Lector Manor
by reddwarfaddict
Summary: Ten and Rose wake up in a manor in the middle of nowhere, before they discover their own tombstone in the manor graveyard. Where are they? What happened? Can they follow the planted clues and survive the journey through the manor? DoctorWhump.
1. Awakening

**A/N: **Disclaimer: "Now what we need David, is a lot of ketchup and you screaming in ultimate agony. Can you do that for me? No? You'd rather have Russell's script? I don't blame you."

Slightly gory. Weird. Lots inspired this, a mix of elements from:

Jumanji, Saw 2, Back To The Future (Which number I can never remember) (Film), Shaun Of The Dead, Labyrinth, this weird one off special on a magician escaping from a water box thing, Red Dwarf - Back To The Future, Spy Kids 3D, the Resident Evils, Harry Potter, Quantum Leap, Trick Of The Mind, Jungle Run, The Crystal Maze, Scooby Doo, my own sickly imagination...and a lot more which I'm too hungry to think for right now.

Hovers between T and M, let's see how T sits.

* * *

Chapter 1 - Awakening  


The Doctor's head was buzzing faintly, sort of like that ever-present sound of electric you can use to tell whether the television is on standby or not. His entire body felt heavy and cold like they were blocks of ice, but he ignored the discomfort in favour of his mixed up head.

He was laying on something damp…something…a little spiky. He dared to open his eyes, only to be met by flicks of long, unkempt grass brushing against his face. Where in the Universe…?

He jerked up to sitting position immediately as the image of Rose floated through his mind, his entire body disagreeing with his actions. He quickly looked to his left: a graveyard, standing eerie and silent in the cold night air. He whirled his head to the left – mistake – only breathing once more when he saw Rose still and sleeping in the long grass next to him.

"Rose?" he called gently. No reply.

He crawled towards the girl, struggling to battle against the length of the grass. Whoever owned this place really hadn't got out in the garden for a few seasons.

He rested his left hand on her right cheek, brushing back her scattered hair gently. With his right hand he quickly checked her pulse – strong. He checked over her head with both hands for any signs of injury, but she was untouched. He checked limbs for breaks. Clean.

Maybe now he could try and figure out where they actually _were._

He looked up again, scanning the horizon for objects of interest. He didn't have to look far to see the giant towering medieval looking manor looming above them, half eroded and destroy by time and vandals.

For as far as he could see a giant grey stonewall at least fifteen foot high surrounded them, the graveyard and horror movie manor, caging them in. They were laying in the grass just by the entrance to manor, weeds and poisonous plants all around the walls and singular path to the heavy oaken door

"Rose?" he called again to the girl, giving her a slight shake as a desperate prompt for her to waken. The buzzing in his head had gone now, and his body didn't feel so heavy.

"Doctor," she moaned softly, her hand suddenly coming up and touching his cheek.

"Right here," he reassured her as she opened her eyes, looking around at their surroundings groggily.

"What…where…?"

"I don't know," he answered plainly, "woke up here the same as you."

He helped her sit up, letting her rest against him for support. She instantly used him as temporary hot water bottle.

"Were we drugged or summat?" she asked vaguely.

"Must have been." He looked over at the spooky manor once more, his mind shrouded in a cloak of thought. "I can't think of another explanation. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Umm…" she started, pulling away from him to get onto her feet, the Doctor following her. Her head was starting to clear slightly. She thought. She thought even harder. Harder. She was beginning to get worried now, looking up at the Doctor with terrified eyes. "Try…nothin'."

Boggle eyes. "Nothing?"

"Nothin'."

He lowered his eyebrows into a frown. "Umm, Rose…." He began, looking slightly worried for her sanity.

"What's the last thing _you_ remember then oh mighty Time Lord?"

He raised a finger in declaration, opening his mouth to spill out an infinite number of memories just to prove her wrong – but nothing was coming.

"…I don't remember," he finished weakly.

"Ha!" Rose pointed at him, positively delighted. "Gotcha!"

But then she realised the full impact of the situation they had unwillingly been thrown into.

"…Nothin'?" she was the one to ask this time.

"Nothing," he confirmed.

"But that can't be right. We wouldn't know each other if we had no memories."

"Not necessarily. How did you feel during my regeneration?"

She paused, the answer so obvious yet so far. "…I don't remember."

"But it happened, right?"

She nodded, and shrugged. "It was just a thing that happened."

"Like events written on a calendar," the Doctor put into perspective. "It happened but…it didn't."

"So where does that put us?"

"In a rather large mess," he finished, sounding a little jollier than the situation called for.

"What do we do now?"

"Split up, look for clues," he said, blatantly aware of the Scooby Doo Theme lodging itself into his brain as he said the words.

Rose's eyes widened, horrified. "Split, up?!" she punctuated each word, glaring at him.

"Something wrong with that?" he asked in a bouncy voice. _What's new Scooby Doo? We're coming after you! We're gonna solve that myste-_

"Doctor it is _pitch black _and we are _standing _in front of a _terrifying old manor _and a bloody _graveyard!" _she hissed, but she could tell he wasn't even listening to her. What _was _going through his mind?

_Don't look back! You may find another clue! A Scooby Snack, will be waiting here for you!_

"Hmm," he said, bouncing on his toes. "Just scream if you find anything."

"Like a mutated psychopathic homicidal man hacking me death?" she ventured, but he had already started walking in the opposite direction to her, whistling a happy tune. Was that…Scooby Doo?

Rolling her eyes at the child she turned in the opposite direction to him – and went cold inside.

She was due to search the graveyard. At night.

Gulping, she began to walk.

* * *

**Josh Rojurs: Unable to complete**

**Rebecca Webbe: Unable to complete**

**Fredrick Holden: Unable to complete**

**Jun Chan: Unable to complete**

**David Tennant: Unable to complete**

**James Gleick: Unable to complete**

**Chloe Preace: Unable to complete**

**Sandra Dee: Unable to complete**

**Billie Piper: Unable to complete**

**Emily Mour: Unable to complete**

**Jessica Webbe: Unable to complete**

The list went on.

The Doctor slipped off his glasses as he sat infront of the stone memorial, scanning through the names with his confusion at its peek.

'**Unable to complete**'? What was that supposed to mean? He was vaguely reminded of Reinette and the Clockwork Droids – incomplete had meant her brain wasn't compatible because of her age. But that couldn't be the answer, surely? This was in an entirely different context.

He layed back on the grass, chewing on his glasses with his arms folded behind his head. None of this made any sense. He was utterly clueless, robbed of his memories and dumped in a freaky old manor with his companion. He couldn't remember anything. Infact, he couldn't even remember his previous lives. He couldn't remember his family, his childhood…

It must have been a pretty strong and well-created drug that did this. To take out such precise memories and leave the events intact, to break through his mental barriers and not touched a nerve in his brain. What had happened? He yearned to know. But…

A shrill high-pitched scream suddenly cut the air.

He jerked upright and bounded onto his feet, leaving his thoughts floating void where he had just been sat. He was running, running as fast as he possibly could to the graveyard he had unfairly left for Rose to look in.

"Rose!" he called as he reached the graveyard, forgetting the gate and instead leaping a hurdle over the waist high wall. He weaved between the graves with amazing agility, finally coming to a stop next to Rose, who was standing staring down at one of the graves shaking madly. He took her into his arms protectively. "What is it? What…"

Then he saw it, written on the headstone of two occupied graves side by side:

**Here lies the Doctor,**

**A most worthy of foes.**

**But fell to the darkness,**

**When he lost his Rose.**

**Here lies Rose Tyler,**

**She told him forever.**

**So now here they lay,**

**For an eternity together.**

**31****st**** October 1451.**

For a moment, there was utter silence.

"Well," the Doctor started cheerily, "at least we know the date now."


	2. Lateral Thinking

**A/N: **Woop! I'm glad you guys like it. Always here to please. Very cliched, this story. VERY. It's shorter than the Rambles, less than ten chapters maybe. I don't know...I haven't even finished the next chapter yet! Thing you gotta know about me is I never write a story in linear, I dot around all over the place. I've written the chapter after the next one, then skip a chapter, did the one after that, skip one, did half of the one after that...

Anyways. This is gory. You better not have just eaten something.

* * *

Chapter 2 – Lateral Thinking  


"Doctor, are we dead?" Rose asked hoarsely as they both sat on the grass on the other side of the manor, well away from the graveyard.

"Don't be stupid," the Doctor said with a laugh, though only he knew how forced it was. "How can we possibly be dead? I feel very much alive, thank you very much. I know…well…I _should _know what being dead feels like and this is guaranteed not to be it."

"Then what the hell is goin' on?"

"Hmmm…" he wondered aloud to himself, "possibly a mental projection imprinted on the neurons allowing kinetic energy to be used from an auto-gen rather than the usual style of kinetic movement humans and infact, most lifeforms use as in the cha-cha slide."

"I'm sorry?"

"A hallucination," the Doctor summed up. He looked up at the manor, wincing as he realised the next strategic move to make. "We've got to go inside." He looked over at Rose, gauging her reaction.

"Alright," she said, getting onto her feet. "Lead the way. Sooner we go in there, the sooner we get out of this place."

"That's it," he said with a grin, also getting to his feet and brushing himself down. "Onwards, upwards!"

They joined hands and trudged over to the front door, avoiding the poisonous plants as the old gravel crunched its protest beneath their feet. As the reached the front door, the Doctor spotted a folded up piece of paper with a small '**G**' written on it lying on the doormat, screaming to be opened. He stopped Rose temporarily, kneeling down and taking the paper in hand.

**This is Lector Manor.**

**You are not welcome here.**

"Note to the door-to-door salesman," the Doctor remarked casually, pocketing the slip of paper. As he withdrew his hand he realised – with mild shock – his pockets were empty. Someone had taken his things.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, watching him carefully as he patted down his pockets for any signs of his equipment.

"I've lost everything."

Rose quickly checked her pockets, horrified to discover her phone had gone, along with the strawberry chewing gum and her pink spotted handkerchief she always kept handy.

"Same," she affirmed the Doctor's plight to her own. She reached up a hand to her chest; troubled to find the golden TARDIS key chain had disappeared from around her neck. She was struck immediately by a thought. "D'you reckon the TARDIS is around here someplace?"

He took in a breath, eyebrows raised as he released. "Could very well be. It wasn't in the gardens." He reached out to the front door metal handle, although the door was already ajar – an open invitation. He pushed on the mighty oaken door with both hands, grunting with the effort as the door began to creak open.

He lifted his head to see what they had stepped into.

"Doctor? What's in there?" Rose asked, trying to look over his shoulder but he was totally blocking her view. "Why have you stopped?"

"Rose," his voice was low, commanding. Terrifying. "Don't look."

"Why? What is it?"

"Please, don't look."

"But..." she pushed past him roughly, setting her eyes on the sight.

Her hand flew to her mouth in a gasp, and she only just about stopped herself from throwing up at mangled corpse lying limp and messed up infront of her. Dried, clogged blood was all over the floor, the walls, and even the ceiling. Its face was half missing and two eyes – half cut out of their sockets – stared unseeing at the ceiling above, the shock, fear and pain still shining. Arms were disjointed, ligaments broken in several places, skin stripped with bones and muscles showing through which was starting to decompose.

"Human," the Doctor said firmly. "Male. Cause of death…" he paused, trying to find a suitable prognosis. "…A rather angry lion. He was torn to shreds. Poor guy didn't stand a chance. C'mon."

The Doctor took Rose's hand, and led her around the corpse to the next door, but this time is was metal, high tech looking with three key slots – out of place in such an old manor. On it was taped another note, this time with the letter '**O**'. The Doctor was only dimly aware of the door they had come through clicking shut and locking behind them like an automated system – or witchcraft.

**In Lector Manor this is Door One,**

**Though if you wish to pass;**

**Unscathed, alive and aware,**

**You must first complete this task.**

"This is turning into Harry Potter," the Doctor realised, pocketing the note along with the other one.

"Or more like Jumanji," she whispered.

"I was trying not to think about that."

"So when's Robin Williams gonna come in?" Rose asked, forcing a smile as she tried in vain to ignore the overwhelming stench of the corpse behind her.

The Doctor shot her a puppy-eyed expression, feigning hurt. "You'd prefer him over me?" he asked meekly.

Before Rose even got the chance to reply there was a faint, humming sound, as suddenly a drawer pushed out from the metal door, a compartment. Within there was another two pieces of paper, the letter '**M**' written on the top one. There was also a small wooden box, a square of red on top. The Doctor instantly knew a voice reader when he saw one.

Gently he took out both piece of paper, almost dreading what they were about to read.

**Answer me these questions three:**

Oh. Well, he'd expected a lot worse.

He pocketed the paper, and opened the next.

_**In five years time, I will be three times as old as I was three years ago. How old am I now?**_

"Ooo!" the Doctor suddenly exclaimed, delighted. "Lateral thinking puzzles! Dontcha love it Rose!" It wasn't a question.

"Then what's the answer?"

He paused for a moment, thinking hard.

"Seven," he finally answered.

"Sure?" she asked, before gesturing vaguely to the corpse behind her without even looking. "I don't much wanna end up like him."

"Sure-sure," the Doctor answered, picking up the box and pressing his finger to the red patch. "Seven!" he said strongly – and the box clicked open.

Set in the middle of red velvet was a single silver key, to which the Doctor withdrew and stuck into the lowest lock, turning it around. Something clicked.

The Doctor let go of the key, turning to grin at Rose. "See? Easy peasy."

"Don't get cocky yet, still got two questions to go," she reminded him, nudging him in the side. He moaned, rolled his eyes.

"Kill the moment why don't you…" – _crack_ – "…did you hear that?"

"Hmm?" Rose asked, reaching into the second compartment and taking out the next piece of paper. No letter this time.

"Rose…"

"In a sec…"

**_What is the next letter in this series?_**

**_O, T, T, F, F, S_**

"Rose…really…!"

"In a sec!"

Crack.

'O'…or 'S'. What was with that 'O'?

"Rose!"

"I'm busy!"

'O'? 'S'? Or maybe it was an 'F' again.

Crack.

"Rose! Look!"

Great. She'd let the Doctor do this one.

"Doctor…"

Crack.

"What the…?" she looked at the Doctor next to her, who was now staring at something behind them in mild shock, and had been for the past twenty seconds or so. She turned.

The man whom had been lying dead on the floor was no longer apparently dead. He was very much alive, all of him and his rotting corpse standing upright, arms by his sides, staring at them with dead eyes.

He began to limp towards them.

"Doctor! What's the next letter in the series?!" Rose almost screamed, frantic. The Doctor grabbed the piece of paper, scanning it over quickly.

"O, T, T, F, F, S…" the Doctor said over and over, hitting his head to propel his brain.

"THINK!" Rose yelled, glancing over her shoulder to the mangled corpse behind them. "Doctor watch out!"

The Doctor felt an ice cold, wet, sticky arm grab him around the neck, wrenching him down onto the floor. Rose screamed as the Doctor tried to force himself to his feet, but the zombie-like creature was pinning him face forward into to floor of blood.

"'S!'" the Doctor yelled, twisting over to face the creature. "It's 'S'! Initial letters of numbers in progression from one to six!"

Rose grabbed the box from inside the drawer, pressing her forefinger to the red square and yelling the answer.

"Pretty lively for a dead guy aren't you?!" the Doctor managed to wheeze, the creature now crushing his windpipe. "Gerroff!"

_**When the police discovered the body of Colonel Reginald Smith, they found a tape recorder and a gun by his side. On starting the tape they heard a suicide message, closely followed by the sound of a pistol being fired. Without hesitation the police handed over the case to the murder squad. Why?**_

With the Doctor out of asking range Rose was in peril. She couldn't do lateral puzzles to save her life.

The Doctor forced the creature off of him, using the motion to get onto his feet and back the creature into the left hand wall. There was another sickening 'crack', but the zombie didn't seem to care of its latest broken bone.

It al-but threw itself at the Doctor, who was ready for it this time. He threw himself to one side and the zombie zoomed straight on past, but the Doctor latched himself back onto it, running with it, forcing it to run head first towards the other wall.

With a squish and another crack, it had impact.

Its skull had completely split the Doctor realised, as it fell to the floor in even more of a heap than it originally had been.

He had just killed it.

Shocked, he took a nervous step back; nearly tripping over half an arm abandoned quite by accident in the middle of the floor. He could feel the blood all over his arms, face, hair, hands and clothes – everywhere. He felt so dirty.

"Doctor," Rose whispered from behind him – and he started to back away from the corpse, forcing himself to turn his head to look at her. "Last question," she said softly, giving him the slip of paper. He read it.

"Because the tape was wound back when they found it," he answered gently.

Rose took out the last key box, pressing her finger to the red square and echoing his words. It clicked open.

"I'll let you do the honours," Rose said, holding out the key box. He took the small, silver key, slotting it into the third and final lock.

_Crack._

The Doctor turned back to where the corpse had fell, suddenly alert to its movements once more.

"Stubborn, aren't you?!" he yelled at it as it twitched a blooded eye, something slimy and white seeping out from its sockets and trailing down its fleshy cheek. The Doctor jerked the key as the door swung open to let them through, them both of them falling through the now open doorway as the Doctor heaved the metal door shut.

They both looked up.


	3. Test Of Strength

**A/N: **They just HAD to age him, didn't they?!

I just wrote this, so apologies for non proofread and bad grammar, but I suppose that's what I'm notorious for. I'm trying to write lots of stuff tonight.

Oh, and sorry. Really. I am.

* * *

Chapter 3 – Test Of Strength

The room they were in was lapsed in darkness, save for a single white streak of light illuminating another folded piece of paper set carefully in the middle of the floor.

The Doctor's face was set, hard and unforgiving. "Either somebody's playing with their food, we're having a freak joint dream, this is someone having some kind of sick twisted joke or…" he trailed off, not really wanting to think about it. Rose chose not to venture into the other possibility. She could only watch as the Doctor stepped forward towards the next piece of paper, and took it in hand. A single '**R**', this time.

**This Doctor, is a test of strength,**

**A position you must reverse.**

**But just how far can you pull,**

**Before Rose Tyler is immersed?**

The instant he finished it, the single light faded to blackness. He was alert immediately, the words on the paper suddenly ringing inside his head as he slipped it in his pocket.

"Rose!" he called, arms outstretched. "Rose!" Nothing. "Rose? Where are you?! Answer me!"

He felt no pressure on him but suddenly he knew he was in a difficult spot. There was only complete darkness and that must have somehow impaired his senses in that he was suddenly lying on the floor, his wrists heavy and cold, eyes wide open but he couldn't control them.

The lights came back on.

And the situation was even worse than he had anticipated.

His eyes were staring straight at Rose, who was staring right back. All she could see was his wide open eyes and the blood still on his shirt from the zombie fight – but she had no way of telling whether that blood was one hundred percent zombie or fifty percent Doctor. His arms were chained to the floor, held rigid in firm looking cuffs. He looked…dead.

"Doctor!" he heard Rose call desperately from the other side of the room but ten metres from where he was lying, though her voice was echoed due to the fact she was standing in a large lid topped tank; it was impossible for her to get out without help. Between him and the tank were skeletons strewn out, all evidently corroded by time – but the important thing was, they were all chained at the wrists by the same type of metal. She must have been terrified. "Oh God Doctor, please don't be a corpse!"

"No, no, I'm fine, I'm here…"

She breathed a mighty sigh of ultimate relief, suddenly dejected. "I thought you were…" she just about stopped herself from uttering her next word. Instead, she glanced around the glass box she seemed to be standing in, edgy. "Doctor, I am _really _not likin' this!"

The Doctor tried to get up, managing to force himself to crouching position since the chains prevented him moving any further. He gave a small, half-hearted tug on the restraints, but discovered to his dismay – but not to his surprise – that he'd need much more of a pull to get them free.

"I think I'd prefer being stuck with the zombie," he voiced as a little hope for some comic relief.

"Me…" Rose was suddenly interrupted by the sound of cascading water from above her, falling down and splashing on the floor of the tank.

The words on the paper now made so much more sense.

**This Doctor, is a test of strength,**

**A position you must reverse.**

**But just how far can you pull**

**Before Rose Tyler is immersed?**

"Rose! Hold on!" he said as the full immensity of the situation hit him. "Hold on, I'm coming! Just…stay still!"

"Am I likely to go anywhere?" Rose asked vaguely, watching the water fall into the tank at her feet. It was at her ankles now. "Doctor!"

He had his teeth gritted, trying so hard to pull on the chains that kept him from saving Rose. He put his entire weight on it plus a little more, shouting with the effort and the pain rippling throughout his entire body.

"Doctor! Get me out of here or my mum will slap you!" Rose yelled, the water rising rapidly now, past her knees.

The driven in metal was coming a little. Visibly it had moved about an inch. This was no good; he'd _never _be able to do it…

But he _had _to. This was totally unfair, obscene. Why did he deserve this? Actually scratch that last question. Why did _Rose _deserve this? Was she just the pawn in this little game of torture?

"Help me!" The water was halfway up her chest now. "Help me please!"

The Doctor yelled with the pain, watching only the metal in the floor as it slowly began to edge out with the pressure. With one last tug, the metal pinged out of its slot – and it was finally free.

"Hold on!" he shouted again, risking a glance up at Rose. She was within seconds of taking her last breath, her neck straining to its full capability to keep her mouth out of the water. "I'll save you!"

"Doctor…" came her last, desperate cry before she was entirely immersed, the water rapidly making its way even further up the tank.

He pulled so desperately on the second chain, not even risking a glance at Rose for fear that it would weaken him.

"COME ON!" he screamed, teeth gritted as he leant back on the chain, the cuff now imprinting into his skin – but he didn't care. He could take the pain as long as Rose was still in danger.

After what seemed like hours the metal was finally out of the concrete slab it had been driven into, and he was on his feet in an instant.

"Rose!!!" he called desperately, tearing it over to the tank with his metal chains swinging around his side from where they were still hanging around his wrists. He reached the sealed tank, not even stopping to think with sense before he swung the chains through the force of his arms, hitting the pane of glass, completely shattering it. Water immediately cascaded onto him with tremendous force, throwing him instantly off of his feet and flying backwards towards the door they had only just come through.

"Rose!" he gasped, eyes closed but hands outstretched to the nothingness, just about catching a piece of clothing as he flew into his grip. The weight dragged him to the side onto a wreckage of wooden furniture piled high with wood wormed chairs, Rose at his side as the water washed back sway towards the tank.

He rolled over in an instant, his brown eyes quickly searching her face for any kind of life, a twitch in her eyes, her chest rising and falling with intakes of breath…

His hand rested on her abdomen as he cradled her head with his other.

"Rose…c'mon Rose…don't leave me…c'mon…"

She wasn't stirring.

With his breath caught in his throat, he slowly brought up his hand from her abdomen to her neck – looking desperately for a pulse.

"Please Rose…come back…"

He searched everywhere over her neck for that strong beat against his fingers – trying so hard to believe she was still alive, to cling on to that last morsel of hope.

"Rose if you don't come back we won't be able to have chips again…" he was aware what had just came out of his mouth was more to do with the fact he was in pure, undivided shock rather than common sense. He pulled her down from the pile of wooden chairs to the flat floor below, only at inch deep in water. He hovered his cheek over her mouth and cast his eye line down her chest.

She wasn't breathing.

With determination he lifted her up onto her feet, feeling her head resting against his chest limply, which only escalated his dread and fear.

He linked his arms around her stomach, intending to do the Heimlich Manoeuvre to try and clear the airway. He was only glad Jackie wasn't around screaming at him that he was attempting to shag her daughter. He braced himself, for what he was about to do, before roughly jerking his hands upwards to her ribs.

Water immediately came pouring out of her mouth, so he tried it again. And again. By the time the water was no longer coming out of her mouth, the Doctor was convinced her lungs had been practically made of water.

But he was getting no reaction.

He gently laid her back down again onto the floor, refusing to give up.

"Rose! Don't give up on me! I know you're strong!"

He rested his hands together on her chest were her heart rested inside, pressing down her ribs in the beginnings of CPR. One…two…three…four…five… He reached up to her face, pinching her nose and tilting her head back before taking in a huge breath, lowering his head and pressing his lips to hers, ejecting a breath of air.

"Please Rose…" he whined, "please…don't…please…"

Second kiss of life, then it was back to the chest compressions. He felt strangely helpless as he got no noticeable reaction from her, and even still ten minutes later he was trying to get her to breathe.

He couldn't do anything.

Rose Tyler was dead.

The enormity of it still hadn't hit him and he was denying it, trying to convince himself she was just unconscious. But it was useless.

Forcing the tears back, determined not let whoever had done this see him wounded; he could do nothing but stare at her pale, soaked face, cursing himself for what had happened. This was entirely his fault. If only he'd been quicker…saved her…

He almost gave up there and then.

**Here lies the Doctor,**

**A most worthy of foes.**

**But fell to the darkness,**

**When he lost his Rose.**

Somebody had planned this. Someone had known this would happen.

Someone had committed _murder_ here. Willingly. Knowingly. But he wasn't about to submit to their sick, sick game. He wasn't going to stand for this. He was going to find whoever did this and they were going to pay.

…But what was he going to tell Jackie? Mickey? He couldn't leave her dead body here, at any rate. He'd have to get out of here with her, take her back to them. It was the least he could do.

He quickly took off his remotely dry jacket, wrapping her soaked body in it as he picked her up in both arms.

"I'll get you out," he said out loud. "I'll get back. I'll find a way."

He held her tight to him and made his way through the next door, determined to beat whatever was on the other side.


	4. Time Catcher

**A/N: **Because I'm nice :D Don't expect a rapid update after this...

* * *

Chapter 4 – Time Catcher

**GAME OVER**

**Continue?**

**YES NO**

**1 credit(s) available**

Rose blinked, suddenly a whole lot more confused then she had been with this entire thing to begin with. She had a mother of a headache and yet all she could see were those words typed in gold prominent on a black background, stars flying towards her eyes like a very old version of an arcade game.

"Wha…what?" she said, reaching up to her eyes but instead was surprised to find she was wearing some kind of helmet. Aswell as that, her arms were confined too in something heavy and cold.

In a swift movement, she whipped off her helmet and blinked repeatedly, blurry surroundings starting to sharpen into distinct shapes.

There were people staring back at her, seated in a half circle around the black tilted Dentist-like chair she was sitting on, staring intently at something to her left.

"Hey…what's…?"

"S'okay, you can get disoriented on leaving the game," someone was saying from beside her – looked human besides the five eyes. Short black hair and striking green eyes with a fat, middle-aged-computer-geek like face. "Mind you, you still got one credit left, wanna go back in?"

"What the hell is goin' on?" she asked, severely confused.

"You were in a game," the man whispered, voice low as the spectators intently looked straight through her.

"…This is reality?" she asked dumbly. He nodded. "But…"

She looked up at the billboard across a wall of the huge theatre like room, seeing for the first time the name of the game, '**Time Catcher**' and a giant cartoon picture of the Doctor looking forward into space, arms folded, back-to-back with a shadow of a human figure – a red question mark in its centre. '**You be the companion!**'print declared under the picture. There was a small logo in the bottom right – a company named Жemnas.

Did that mean the Doctor was…just a figment of someone's imagination? Was he just a group of pixels? Was he no more than a character devised in the middle of the night on a piece of paper in someone's basement?

Man, she knew he was too damn perfect. She should have expected something like this. It was all a mighty bit too strange, meeting the perfect man and not even trying to get off with him.

"The Doctor?" she asked, fearing the worst. The man gave her a small, half-warm smile.

"He's really something isn't he? Anyone that goes in fall in love with him."

She tried to laugh with him, but she was far too shocked to actually take what he had said seriously. She began to undo herself from the tons of metal clad onto her entire body like a suit of armour; she felt more like a Cyberman.

If they even existed…or were another Жemnas creation.

"Thank you," she managed to say as she climbed out of the chair, glancing around the complex nervously. No one was watching her however; instead they were staring almost hypnotically at something behind her. Turning back she saw a giant cinema screen, split in two: one side for the Doctor, one side for Rose. In the top left of the Doctor's screen was a health bar, currently just a little off its peek.

Along the bottom was a list of items the Doctor had in his possession, currently four slips of paper, each with a letter written on. '**G**', '**O**', '**M**' and '**R**'. Her own screen just displayed the message she had first seen when she had woken up. But in the centre screen of the Doctor's was exactly what the Doctor was doing in-game that all these people seemed to be transfixed to.

She couldn't comprehend this. It couldn't be real.

"What happens to the game now I've left?" she asked in a low whisper, addressing the man she'd first met upon waking.

"It plays on until he solves the tasks, or unless you re-enter, then it reincorporates you," he answered, "if we tried to cut the game off it would damage the components."

"Oh. So…I can come back?"

He nodded. "Unless the game's already over, in which case you gotta wait your turn again."

"Okay, thank you."

She walked to the exit, her mind exploding with confusion.

As she stepped out of the door into a space age like arcade, she spotted a 3D plastic replica of the youthful, brown haired brown-eyed Doctor standing proudly with his sonic screwdriver clutched in one hand, his other hand brushing back through his hair. He always did that. She found it, frankly, bloody well sexy.

Okay, so she was in love with a group of pixels. Pixelphillia.

For just a second, amidst the hustle and bustle of game addicts wasting money on machines, she was alone in the room with this plastic incarnation of the man she loved.

She couldn't remember hardly anything of her life. Post-game amnesia? Either way, she'd have to work hard to find out who exactly she actually was, and where she had come from.

Unconsciously she reached out a hand to the plastic replica's, stroking it gently. Everything was so accurate. Every single detail of his hand was all on there.

"I know you're real," she whispered to the handsome plastic face of the Doctor, which unsurprisingly, did not respond. "I know you are."

The model didn't seem inclined to nod reassurance, so instead she let go of his hand, letting her own drop limply to her side.

So had no proof he _did _exist, no memories to guide her and no reassuring voice whispering in her ear. But she was fuelled by her love for him, envisioning exactly who he was. So, had everything that had happened from the Autons just been part of a bloody video game?

If so, what kind of person was she that wanted to spend an eternity in a video game with a man that didn't even exist? What was she trying to run away from? How _long _had she been in that video game? People had been watching her every step of the way? Was her life nothing but a lie?

No. The Doctor wouldn't do this to her. He couldn't be…imaginary.

She looked once more at the plastic model's beautiful brown eyes, smiling reassurance.

"I'll find you no matter what," she whispered.

Then fled.


	5. Test Of Stealth

**A/N: **I giving you this as compensation really, it's the only one I've actually managed to complete...so many stories at once! I'm an idiot.

* * *

Chapter 5 – Test Of Stealth

His head was in a total spin.

He was only vaguely aware of stepping silently through the door into the next room, still carrying Rose's dead body in his arms. He felt so numb. So…hurt. He wouldn't cry. No. He wasn't going to show any weakness to whomever it was that had dropped him here. It was what they wanted to see.

But that still didn't stop the bulldozer of utter misery from drilling through his brain.

Swallowing his despair, he looked up into the room he had since entered.

There were torches burning in brackets on the crumbled slanted walls that formed a long chamber of a room, providing wanted heat since he and Rose were still water drenched. It was like a tornado had brushed through this room of the house, as all the furniture was either upturned or totally ripped apart and distributed carelessly all over the floor.

There it was, that note. The note of foreboding, this time with the letter '**E**' on the back.

It was remotely difficult to retrieve the note whilst holding Rose, but somehow he managed it without moving her too much.

**Stealth is a most useful of tools,**

**Not a patter of feet on floor.**

**The ghosts here feast on sound,**

**Guarding that far door.**

"Ghosts?" he wondered aloud, glancing back up at the far door.

Then he saw them.

They were wearing long white cloaks with hoods that shield their face in total blackness, except for two eerily spooky red lights that placed as eyes in the darkness below the hood. They were rippling into existence when just a few seconds ago the room had been empty, gliding around the floor soundlessly in no particular direction, passing through the furniture on the floor. He readjusted Rose's weight in his arms – okay, so he wasn't exactly Charles Atlas in this body, but the thought of his quest to return Rose home physically made him stronger.

"Talk about a trademark ghost," the Doctor muttered to himself, staring at the sight.

And then the ghosts stilled.

And looked straight at him.

They hadn't liked that.

He held his breath, suddenly unnerved as the faceless figures continued to stare at him with those terrifying red neon-like eyes.

Then, as soon as they looked – they snapped out it again, going back to their original routine of gliding about, doing nothing.

'_Note to self: do not start singing.' _He thought distinctly, quietly allowing himself to breathe out.

Okay, so that was the deal. Get to the door without making a sound and he was free to move on. Simple enough. He suddenly found himself extremely glad this incarnation of himself didn't have a fetish for squeaky trousers.

He looked up once more to the door, mentally planning his route from point A to point B, trying to choose the most direct, yet obstacle free route on offer.

* * *

Her first process of elimination of course, was to determine where the hell she was. 

She had been walking through the arcade a while now, observing whomever passed her by without appearing to be a stalker. The people here were a total spread of lots of different lifeforms, squelch monsters; three armed men, ten-eyed woman and even humans were mixed in too. A different planet, perhaps.

This could be an arcade. It seemed like an arcade – toy-grabbing machines, penny pushers, and mini bowling alleys and shoot 'em ups dotted about everywhere.

Okay, so that was a good start. She was on a different planet, in an arcade.

She couldn't remember where she had come from to begin with – so for all she knew, this could be were she lived her day-to-day life. Had the flat in London with Jackie and Mickey all been part of the game?

Neither side of the argument gave leeway to the fact of whether the Doctor actually existed or not.

She passed another statue of the Doctor, this time giving her a reassuring smile to work with. He _had _to exist. If he didn't exist…her life was nothing but a horrible filthy streak of lies.

She looked away from the Doctor's double once more to the arcade, scanning the users for any hint of a clue.

She found it.

"Sir?" she found herself asking a smartly dressed employee wanderin aimlessly around. He seemed eager to finally be disturbed. "Can I ask you a little bit about _Time Catcher?"_

* * *

He was moving slowly, but that was the general idea. 

He dared not even to take a breath as he progressed, sure he'd been in this room for over half an hour minutes now but he was still only halfway across the room. Every step they were glancing evils at him, and frankly, he felt intimidated. It was a rare feeling for him. Funny really, now it was coming in bucketfuls.

His only comfort of success was the feeling of Rose in his arms, knowing he _would _prevailand he wouldn't let her rot in this place, this hell, even if it cost him a life or two. The atmosphere in the room was so tense, though it was only from him. The ghosts continued to glide about, not really caring for _they _weren't the ones in peril.

He was still only halfway across the room though.

A ghost suddenly appeared in his vision, the red eyes staring straight through him like it couldn't even see him.

He then realised it was going to pass through him.

There wasn't even anytime to move as he suddenly felt a rush of what seemed like cold wind rattle up his spine, instantly making him involuntarily gasp out loud in shock and discomfort.

Mistake.

The ghost suddenly whirled around as did he, a sharp pain sparking across the top of his arm immediately. He just about saw the unfathomable claws of the creature slipping back inside its cloak, the Doctor biting his tongue to try and stop himself from crying out loud at the pain now shooting through his arm.

For a few more seconds it just stared at him, listening intently for anything to signify there was a presence there. He held his breath once more.

A little longer and it turned away, gliding from him.

The first thing he did was to turn his head towards where the pain ebbed, seeing the stain of blood on three slits cut into his sleeve. Great. Another suit ruined. He was beginning to run out of them now; he might have to start wearing blue…

There was no time to stop the bleeding, so he looked instead back up to the door, glad to see the way was almost devoid of the ghosts and their sharp claws.

He began to walk forward.

And tripped right over a fallen chair.


	6. Seeking The Doctor

**A/N: **All reviews shall be answered this chapter :D So make 'em gooooooood :)

FINALE TOMORROW! Man, I'll NEVER get tired of saying that...

* * *

Chapter 6 – Seeking The Doctor

"So, lemme get this straight," Rose started to the employee, trying in vain to get the facts straight in her head. "The Doctor was created by your boss and company owner Zender Жemnas in development for _Time Catcher?"_

The employee nodded.

"So, have ya got any idea of how he thought of the Doctor?"

The employee shrugged, now getting tiresome of the continuous interrogation. "Just said he was out taking a walk when the perfect character suddenly came to him."

"The Doctor's pretty independent for a computer game character."

"An innovation in game making, don't you think ma'am?"

She persisted, rather rudely, the employee thought. "What makes the Doctor? I mean, what controls him?"

"I believe a computer, ma'am, they generally are."

She was getting impatient with this man now. "Can I see it?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but no member of the public is allowed inside the internal systems of Жemnas Corporation."

Rose burned with fury inside, her right hand suddenly becoming surprisingly itchy as the want of a slap came on. She forced her mouth to smile at him, but her annoyed eyes said different.

"Thank you for your time sir." And she fled before his face got in the way.

She sighed gently to herself as she wandered aimlessly down a row of Monopoly arcade machines, headed in no particular direction as her mind began to think once again.

If no one was going to let her find the Жemnas 'Doctor creator', then she'd bloody well find it herself.

The sign that screamed '**STAFF ONLY**' in big black bold letters was temporarily ignore as the young blonde woman slipped inside, unnoticed by the crowds.

The corridor she had stepped into was long, white, empty and quiet. It was as if she'd just stepped through a gateway to another dimension. There were countless doors spaced evenly out along each wall, all blank and unlabelled. How the hell was she going to find the Doctor? It was like looking for a needle in a Жemnas shaped haystack.

Uh oh. Someone was coming.

No, wait. She could use this her advantage…

"Excuse me," she suddenly popped out with as the technician with the label that proclaimed his name to be 'Bobby' tried to pass her, too absorbed in his clipboard to notice her presence. He wore the same plastic overalls as Police Forensics did, his morphed alien looking face shown through a clear plastic plate in the headpiece. He looked up, though clearly distracted.

"Hmm?" his voice came out of two side-placed speakers by his mouth, sounding artificial.

"Sorry, I'm new. I'm looking for the central feed of _Time Catcher? _I need to check the…" – she searched for the words the man had used earlier – "…components."

He seemed puzzled at her words, holding up the clipboard with scribbled notes printed across dotted lines to her. "I just checked. Everything's smooth in the works."

"…I was asked to double check. Mr. Жemnas said he was getting worried the components weren't functioning as well as they should."

The man stared at her for a few moments, before handing her the clipboard and gesturing remotely behind him.

"Down the corridor, turn right, fifth door on the left. Couldn't double check my results, could you?"

She beamed at him; already setting off down the corridor to follow the directions he'd given her. "No problem, and thanks!"

"Don't forgot your quarantine suit!" he warned as she made to turn the corner. "Hazardous components!"

"Thank you!" she answered, wondering slightly what could be worthy of quarantine in a room of machines. All the same, she grabbed one off of a conveniently placed row of them, slipping it on. She really did look quite fat in it…

She didn't even glance down at the clipboard as she reached the proclaimed door – so nervous now her hand was shaking too much to grab the handle. Behind this single door laid the answers to everything. Her past. Her future. Her Doctor.

She calmed herself down, controlling her breathing as her hand decided to finally grab the handle and turn it down. Quickly, she decided, giving a sharp push – and the door swung open wide.

Her jaw dropped to the floor.

* * *

The second he'd felt the wooden chair brush beneath his foot, he knew the consequences of his actions.

He fell crashing to the wooden floor in an almighty tumble of unstable furniture, several pieces falling down onto him as Rose fell from his arms to the floor beneath, conveniently below where his head impacted but seconds later.

Rose had just saved his life in death.

And he couldn't even save her life in _life_.

He didn't even need to look around as he felt the ghosts suddenly become alert to his sounds. He knew for certain that he had no chance of getting out of this one. He had to run.

He quickly scooped up Rose's limp body in his arms and got himself onto two feet, pushing forward so much he almost fell over again, but Rose's weight kept him balanced.

The door was but metres away now, but it still seemed so far. He felt a chill hover near his back as the ghosts started to advance towards him, howling at their newfound prey like circling wolves – but the only thing the Doctor seemed to register was Rose, the door, and the blood pounding in his ears.

He cried out loud purely from adrenaline, diving for the door handle as something cold and sharp touched his shoulder. He twisted manically away from the touch, jumping through the doorway and kicking it shut hard behind him.

Everything went silent in the still room, the surroundings seemingly unharmful.

He gasped desperately for air he'd lost from pure shock, clutching Rose's body tighter to his chest for emotional support. He was still alive?! How?! He was sure the ghosts had had him for sure there.

He exhaled a long, deep breath he'd been holding in for far too long now, forcing himself to calm before he had a hearts attack. He was so vulnerable without Rose, he knew. Normally they'd be laughing it off by now, but he was far from laughing. This was no playgroup. This was real life. He had to get Rose back to Jackie and Mickey and he'd come so close to failing altogether.

He looked down at Rose's content, pale face, still as it had been even through everything he'd just gone through.

He missed her.

And it hurt.

"Rose…" he whispered, just about stopping himself from falling to his knees. He'd had a severely delayed reaction but now it was hitting – twice as hard. "Rose…I can't do this without you…" he realised, trying in vain to swallow oncoming tears but the insistence was too harsh. "Rose…" he croaked, a single tear running down his cheek, and image both poignant and rare before a six more trails of tears joined it.

Silently, he wept for Rose Tyler.


	7. The Perfect Cell

**A/N: **I KNOW I said I'd reply to all reviews last chapter but I'm in an awesome mood from LotTL (OMG THAT WAS AWESOME! Well, when he (Long prolonged beeping) and then (Long prolonged beeping) it was as though he (Long prolonged beeping) which made me say "HOLY (Long prolonged beeping)!") and I wanted to give you the next chapter of this as a doggy treat XD Mainly coz it's the only one I've finished. Efficient, aren't I.

* * *

Chapter 7 – The Perfect Cell

Her jaw dropped to the floor.

There were millions of monitors, computers, bleeping lights and high pitched whines of high-powered machinery all stacked high around the outside of the room, as if they were wallpaper, not actual machines. The floor trailed with multi-coloured wires, some thick, some thin, and some so large they could easily be mistaken as snakes.

But none of that was important.

Because sitting in the centre of the room right there and then, was the most scandalous thing of all.

The Doctor.

There was the Doctor, the real Doctor: the real, living, _breathing _Doctor. He was quite plainly in a deep sleep, clothed in his usual garments and hovering in the water of a clear pod in the centre of the room with an oxygen mask over his face; pads on his temples to monitor his brainwaves and machines all around him, keeping him alive. There was a heart rate monitor, a brainwave monitor, a tube that pumped sedate and a tube that fed him food whilst another took the waste away.

It was a perfect little cell.

Soundlessly, Rose stepped towards the clear glass shell, resting a palm on the outside.

"Doctor?" she whispered to the sleeping man, his hair waving out like reeds in the water that contained him, making him seem angelic. She found herself grinning at him, pressing both palms to the glass. "I knew you were real."

It was all flooding back now. They'd been wandering around the streets of Zodonia looking at market stalls when as she had been prying around in a jewellery stall, she had turned to find the Doctor had completely disappeared right under her nose.

So okay, she had thought. He wandered off a lot and she decided not to panic just yet.

But when he still hadn't returned to the TARDIS after five hours, she _knew _something had happened.

For two months she had looked. There was nothing else she _could _do. For starters, she couldn't fly the TARDIS anyway, and to hell if she was just going to abandon the Doctor like that. Every day for two months she searched for her Doctor, following false clues and endless trails, only to lead back to the same familiar door of failure.

Of _course _she had heard about the new games coming out, Zodonia was a gaming planet, you couldn't move for publicity of new material. 'Revolutionary' they had said about the latest game, _Time Catcher_.

Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined the title was a gloat for the fact the developer, Zender Жemnas, caught the Time Lord and kept him hostage for money inside a game. Her Doctor. Trapped in a video game.

So she had gone straight to the Жemnas complex, and searched anywhere and everywhere for any sign of the Doctor. She had seen the posters, the billboards. He was advertised _everywhere_.

Just when she was close to giving up, she _had_ found him. She had cried. Not only for sadness at what had happened, but also undivided joy that she had found him at last. Right where she was standing now. However, there was absolutely no way she could get him out without entering the game – so that was exactly what she did.

She still had some Zodnia, the global currency, so had bought a ticket on a month waiting list. She visited him everyday during the month, making sure for herself he was alive and well, reassuring him she was working on getting him out even though she knew full well he couldn't hear her.

People came and went in the game – the Doctor just treated them like a faithful companion every time, as if unable to see their true form. The scenario they were placed in was randomly generated each time a person entered the game, for variety. It was actually fun to watch – like a movie, but every time it was unique.

And then came her turn.

She had intended to enter the game to tell the Doctor what had happened and get him out of there.

Of course, she had completely forgotten to take into account the memory filters.

But now, she was here.

She had found him once more.

And she wasn't going to lose him again.

"I'm gonna get you out of there, Doctor. Whatever it takes."

She watched his content face for a moment longer, almost imagining the twitch of a slight smile break out from his lips. _Thank you. _She imagined his tender voice echo inside her head. But looking at him now, so peaceful, so helpless, it fuelled her anger to what had happened. He was their component. They had to keep the game running because it would mess up the Doctor's brain to keep resetting it. Hewas their _lousy_ component. They'd even resorted to wearing quarantine suits around him…

Disgusted, Rose ripped off her overalls and threw them harshly onto the floor. She gazed at the Doctor in slumber, so still, so…unDoctorish. Finally she gave herself a chance to glance at the clipboard she'd been given, seeing for the first time a record of heart rate, brainwave patterns and measured amount of sedate they were pumping into him. He was linked directly into the game with a memory wipe, so to him, as it had been for her – it was reality. Three months he'd been trapped in this same glass cage, sleeping. He hadn't seen light for that long and probably a little more.

They were just using him, and Rose was going to stop this.

But first she had to get past the memory filters so she could re-enter and tell him.

"What would you do?" she asked the sleeping man, but he remained silent and still. "How the hell would _you_ get past memory filters?"

He would reprogram the game. Of course he would. He was brilliant with computers – but she wasn't.

If only Mickey was here.

She allowed herself to tear her eyes away from him, moving around the pod and machines to try and see what fed the game. There were millions of wires and monitors, and all the while she could hear the Doctor's heartsbeat beeping a steady tone in her ears.

There was absolutely no way she could do this. She had to get help.

In the form of one questioned provoked employee.


	8. Happy Together

**A/N: **Apologies...I thought I'd completed this chapter so I concentrated on the Ramble, but then I found out this morning I hadn't at around 7:50am and promptly ended up writing the entire thing before I left for school :D So...sorry if it's in 'half-asleep' language...though I think we can all speak that rather fluently...

* * *

Chapter 8 – Happy Together

"Wha…what? What's going on?! Wh…why…?" the employee was stammering as he stared at the sleeping Doctor, held within the glass cage. He circled around the pod, hands on glass, as if trying to determine what he saw was real. "There's…that's…that's the Doctor in there!"

"Your boss imprisoned him," Rose said patiently, waiting for his shock to fade. "This is against every law in the book. He's my best friend and he's trapped in a computer game."

"But…but…" he stammered again, stopping once more infront of the pod and looking up to the body floating within. A few seconds of silence – and then he was running, running out the door.

"Hey! Where're you goin'?!"

"I'm phoning the police!"

"But…"

He was already gone.

She sighed loudly to herself, looking up at the Doctor once more, his unconscious slightly unnerving.

"I will get you out of there," she promised once again, determined not to lose hope. "I will try."

She had to go check on him in-game.

She could only hope the game hadn't ended yet.

* * *

She stepped boldly into the _Time Catcher _complex, now fully loathing Zender Жemnas right to the core for what he had done. Ten metres below her feet the Doctor was in a coma and someone was going to pay for this. 

She stood in the aisle leading to the contraption which would take her back to the Doctor, she watched the giant cinema screen the thousands of people seemed to be glued to.

Then she saw it.

He was crying.

Her Doctor was crying.

He was cradling her dead and drowned body to his chest, shouting at her name at intervals, tears falling down his cheeks as her death began to take a heavy toll.

It was then she realised what was going on here.

Game? No. This was torture.

"You people are sick!" she wanted to scream at the hypnotised crowd, "you're finding this fun? This is obscene!" but she knew full well she couldn't, for it would ruin her only chances of finding him.

"The police are on their way," whispered a voice that of the employees in her ear. She nodded.

"Good. But you have to get rid of the memory filters so I can tell the Doctor what's going on."

She didn't wait for an answer, already advancing quickly down the aisle to the black Dentist-like chair she had woken up in, strapping herself in before the attendant even had a chance to utter the word 'stop'.

* * *

"Doctor!!" came a sudden voice from his arms, accompanied with a shock gasp of desperate air. Startled, the Doctor released a yell of shock and stumbled backwards as he looked down at Rose in his arms, managing to trip over his own feet and falling crashing heavily to the floor. 

There was a sudden cracking sound whilst the Doctor tried to compose himself from the astonishment of what actually had happened, but there was hardly any time to think before the cracking turned to ripping and they were suddenly both plummeting downwards through the floor.

Rose screamed as they fell, the Doctor still clutching onto her from below as they hit the following floor – hard.

"Ow!" they both yelled, closing their eyes against the dust. The Doctor could feel a piece of wood prodding into his back and the fact Rose – the very much alive Rose – was spread eagled over his chest made things that ever more uncomfortable, but then the added fact his face was wet with tear tracks made things even worse.

"Jesus, floors aren't what they used to be…" Rose muttered, coughing away more of the dust.

"I'm not Jesus…" The Doctor sniffed from somewhere beneath her, groaning slightly. Immediately Rose gasped, realising she had landed on top of him. She made to get up, but something cracked beneath her hands under the floor as she began to lift herself up.

"Uh oh…" she whispered.

"Don't…move…" he whispered back, his body instantly freezing into position as did hers above him.

"Not moving…"

Seconds passed.

"Rose…" he suddenly said from beneath her, looking straight up into her eyes. "My nose…itches…"

"Out of all the times Doctor…" she whispered, more out of anticipation than fear.

He twitched his nose as if he were a bunny rabbit, crossing his eyes and looking down at the offending object. "Can't…resist…"

"Don't…"

But he was already raising an arm off of the floor, cuing a rather daunting loud creaking sound from beneath them.

_CRASH!_

The Doctor and Rose were suddenly plummeting again, screaming just because they could. Thankfully the Doctor hit something relatively soft, if he hadn't he might have been too weak to get out of here in one piece.

He looked up towards the ceiling just in time to see the screaming figure of Rose plummet towards him with her eyes open wide, landing directly on top of him for another time. But the force she had descended made sure whatever that object was that had saved his life collapsed beneath the impact.

With another 'oof', they both finally hit firm, hard ground. Dust from the object immediately puffed out in a cloud completely engulfing them both in a mighty whirl of sneezing and coughing. The both of them were unable to stop unconsciousness taking hold and brushing through their senses, eyes fluttering closed.

"_But…but…"_

"_Hey! Where're you goin'?!"_

"_I'm phoning the police!"_

"_But…"_

_Pause._

"_I will get you out of there. I will try."_

Rose sat up instantly, her head pulsating rudely from the fall. She clasped a hand to the back of her skull and held the area of impact, casting her gaze around the room. What had she just dreamt? The Doctor had been there, but he…he…she couldn't remember.

She was then uncomfortably aware of the Doctor lying beneath her namely; she was sitting on his thighs. His eyes were closed.

Fear roughly gripped her as she stared at his prone form, wondering slightly if the fall had been too much after everything before. He could have concussion…or brain damage…or…or…

It didn't bare thinking about.

"Wake up!" Rose called desperately, resting a hand on his cheek. "Doctor!"

"_What did you take me for?"_

"_A deal. A business proposition."_

"_Really? That's strange. All my business deals normally take place over a cup of tea with clotted cream and scones, not a scheme of abduction and captivity."_

"_Well that's because I knew you'd refuse."_

"_Tell me what you want."_

"_I want money. I want fame. I want innovation. And for that…I want the Doctor."_

"Wake up!" someone was shouting in his ear loudly, "Doctor!"

He groaned out loud, taking in a deep breath and turning his head a little to the side. That had been a strange dream, and he couldn't seem to shake it off.

At the sight of his movement Rose immediately lifted herself off of him, hovering a hand above his cheek and hitting him lightly. He seemed to be ready to pass out again.

"Oh no you don't," she said sternly, getting entirely off of him and slipping her arms beneath his body, hoisting him up off of the floor with all her might. "Stand up," she squeaked through the strain of his entire weight. Slowly, he began to right himself, opening his eyes to look into hers. "Better?"

"Yep…" he forced a wide grin at her, standing up to full height, holding his head. "Just one thing though that's really confusing me…"

"Hmm?"

"You're supposed to be dead."

Suddenly her eyes widened, leaping to attention as a stray thought crossed her mind. "Oh my God! There was somethin' I had to tell you…summat really important…" She strained desperately to remember but everything in her brain was blackness.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything…" the Doctor added, blinking slightly to try and gain his centre of balance.

"…I can't remember!" Rose yelled in frustration, the yelling directed wholly at herself.

"It doesn't matter Rose," he said, smiling. "You're back, I don't need an explanation."

She looked up at him, her love oozing like blood out of an open wound. Without even thinking she reached up to him, arms open wide as they were both hugged tightly; glad finally to be back together.

"Thank you," Rose whispered in his ear.

He didn't bother even asking why.


	9. Resetting In Progress

**A/N: **This is the point in the story were I have no idea how to get from point A to point B, which mean a crap, short chapter. But hey.

* * *

Chapter 9 – Resetting In Progress

Neither of them were sure how long they stood there in each other's embrace – but whatever it was, it wasn't long enough.

In a typically Rose way, she'd first made sure his wound scratched up his arm was completely bandaged before they moved on. It still throbbed manically and it desperately hurt to move it, but the pain was still manageable in context.

Rose still didn't know exactly how she'd come back from the dead and the Doctor wasn't extremely compelled to ask. He did like a challenge, yes, but he was fed up being here. Every single door he opened was one more snap on his patience and he couldn't take it for much longer.

He still didn't know how he'd got here and he kept getting flashes of feelings he had no reason to have making his hormones more bouncy than a kangaroo on a trampoline.

And that dream…that brief dream through a splatter of unconsciousness was extremely surreal. He could find no plausible explanation to it apart from the knock to the head. Something his mind had thought up? Or was it something more?

He began to get a feeling again as he as Rose walked side by side, trying to find a way out. The corridor was dark and seemingly endless.

He stopped in his tracks, jerking Rose to a halt whom had been holding his hand. She cried out in surprise, turning to face him, annoyed.

"Hey! What…" she started, but then trailed off as she registered his expression, one of shock. "Are you okay?" she asked, nervously.

His teeth started to chatter as he hugged himself tight, suddenly going extremely white.

"I'm…s-so…c-cold…" he stuttered, and the shaking suddenly increase from his teeth to his entire body. "Fr-freezing…"

"Doctor, it isn't cold in here…" Rose said gently, stepping forward to rest the back of her hand on his forehead. She instantly gasped and withdrew the hand, surprised as the coldness of ice touched her skin. "What the Hell?!"

He was starting to turn blue, she realised. His hands were beginning to surface unhealthy orange spots whilst his body temperature continued to rapidly decrease. It was just aswell his clothes had dried out, else he would be on the floor in seconds.

Rose quickly whipped off the Doctor's jacket she seem to have acquired somehow, draping it over his shoulders and hugging him tight. Whatever freak of nature this was, she was going to beat it.

Just as he thought he was going to collapse, he suddenly found to his complete delight he was unexplainably and rapidly warming up again.

Though the warming didn't stop.

Now it was accelerating to the skies. His inner core temperature playing havoc as it pumped straight up through the sixties, seventies…eighties…

"Rose…" he panted, moving away from her with sweat clinging to his forehead. His face was flushed and he was bent over, trying desperately to control his breathing.

"Doctor what the hell is goin' on?" Rose demanded to know, getting quite worried now.

"I need…water…" He was going to shrivel up and die at this rate. "Hydration…"

"There's no water around here…" Rose said gently to him, still hugging him tight.

It was over a hundred now, and still accelerating fast.

"Don't do this to me!" Rose screamed manically at him, "you _can't _do this to me!"

"Rose…it's burning me up…" he grunted through the agony, falling to his knees. "Help me…help me…"

Alarmed, Rose thought the white shadow on his face to begin with was just a pure hallucination, but she was not the one currently with their temperature comparable to the Sun.

"Doctor…there's somethin'…"

She watched at the white figure looked ghostly real on his face, distinct enough now for her to see it was…an oxygen mask.

_Flash._

She could see the Doctor…floating helpless…wired into machinery…

_Flash._

She was back in the manor.

What the Hell was that?!

She wasn't here in reality. This wasn't reality. She was here on a mission, she realised. But a mission to do what? If only she could remember…

Bingo.

"Doctor! Look at me! Look at me!"

She watched him slowly raised his head, beads of sweat trickling down his brow as he gasped for air and water.

"Listen to me. You can fight this."

"How?" he groaned, head dropping to face the floor. She immediately grabbed his head and pulled it up to look at her, holding him firmly by the shoulders.

"You can fight this because this isn't real. None of it is real. This isn't real because it's a video game and you're trapped inside!"

"What?" Disbelief was plain on his face.

"Trust me. I don't know what's happenin' right now but I know whatever it is, it's not real! I've seen it Doctor, you have to believe me!"

"I believe you Rose…" he gasped, clutching at his burning chest. "But I can't…I can't…"

_This is the moderator. You have broken the game rules. Your access to this game with be terminated immediately and the game will be reset._

"No!" Rose screamed, clutching onto the Doctor desperately. "I won't let you carry on with this _sick _game!"

"Rose…" the Doctor gasped once more, trying to clutch onto her t-shirt as it turned to nothing beneath his fingers. "You're fading…"

"I won't let you down, Doctor! I'll get you out!"

"Please…don't leave me…" he whimpered, suddenly feeling incredibly dizzy as she watched his eyes roll backwards in their sockets, eyelids fluttering closed.

"Not if you leave me first," Rose whispered, holding her arms out to catch him but he passed straight through her flesh as if she were a ghost, hitting the floor with a thud.

_Resetting in progress._


	10. Security Breech!

**A/N: **Was afraid I wouldn't get this up tonight because of internet connection! Got here, though. I woulda posted earlier but it was down. PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!! (Cries) Oh, and I'd like to take this oppurnity (As I have in the other one) to THANKS YOU ALL for all your reviews, there's been a ton and I'd loved ever letter of 'em. I NEVER have enough time to reply because I'm severely inefficient so sorry :P I have no idea how far this is off of the end. I miiht even extend it O.o

* * *

Chapter 10 – Security Breech!

_Resetting in progress._

"No!" she found herself screaming, watching the Doctor's body as it began to flicker and fade before her eyes…but she was helpless to do anything. "Doctor! I need you!"

_This is the moderator. Game progress has been deleted and you will be disconnected from the game. _

Her eyes suddenly bolted open wide, her hands reaching immediately up to her helmet and yanking it forcedly off. Her vision was blurred, imperfect – but she could tell the attendant had long since gone.

"Rose?" asked a low familiar voice, that of the employee's standing next to her.

"What's…?" she began to ask, confused – but the employee shushed her quickly.

"We haven't much time," he said quickly, "I hacked into the mainframe and got rid of the memory filters, which is why the memories started coming back to you. They should be totally gone when you re-enter, but the Doctor's is a little more complex, it might be a while before I can totally crack it – but he should have enough to remember what just happened. There's no way to unlock the cage the Doctor is in without shutting the game down first, which is activated by a modus operandi in game."

"Mo what?"

"A security protocol. You need to say: prime configuration setting order number zero, zero, one. Got that?"

"Prime configuration setting order number zero, zero, one." She rolled her eyes as the words passed her lips. "Geez, you'd have thought they'd have made it easier. Sounds easy. What's the catch?"

"The catch is you have to say it in World's End, the last room of the game, at the precise moment the final task is completed."

"How do I know which is World's End?"

"You can't mistake it. Big, grand room."

She nodded. "Good. Easy. …Ish."

"Жemnas is watching, and we can't have the game reset again, now without risk to the real Doctor. You can't arouse any suspicion as to the fact you know what's going on. Neither must the Doctor. Got all that?"

She nodded, looking around the room at the hundreds of people watching her intently from the seats. Some had popcorn and snacks. For Christ's sake, this wasn't a damn movie.

"There's nothing more I can do now, it's up to you and the Doctor."

"It usually is," she said with a joyous grin, and jammed the helmet back on as the employee inserted one more credit.

"This is my only bit of change…" his voice said from outside, starting to fade away as the game started to activate once more. "Try not to die else we're both screwed!"

* * *

The Doctor's head was buzzing faintly, sort of like that ever-present sound of electric you can use to tell whether the television is on standby or not. His entire body felt heavy and cold like they were blocks of ice, but he ignored the discomfort in favour of his mixed up head. 

He was laying on something damp…something…a little spiky, but he could feel someone's arms around his body, holding him up. He dared to open his eyes, only to be met by the beaming face of his beautiful companion, Rose Tyler from above.

"Beginnin' to think you'd never wake up," she said, smiling down at him. He hid his confusion with a reassuring smile, pulling himself up to sitting position and casting his gaze around at their surroundings. He knew this place. Old manor. Unkempt garden. Graveyard. He'd bet his right heart there would be that same, daunting inscription on one as before if he checked the gravestones now.

"I could sleep through a meteor shower," he said as he mentally assessed the situation. What was the last thing he remembered? "Infact, I have." The heat. The burning heat. A voice from above commanding a resetting of the game...or had that all been a freaky dream?

It must've been a dream. The voice had said she was going to get kicked from the game…

Rose was standing now, helping him to his feet and placing her right hand on his lower arm, her left as support above his elbow. She remained liked that for a few seconds, the both of them just pausing to have a glance around. He turned, about to ask her why she was holding his arm like that – when he saw it himself.

Three long parallel scratches tore his upper right arm skin and material of his clothing, the mark of the ghost's scratch. His pain must've been artificial, which is why he didn't feel anything this time around.

That's when he knew his dream hadn't actually been a dream.

And Rose knew.

She was keeping a guise, but had somehow managed to cling onto her memories and stay in-game. She was pretending not to know what was going on so they could find a way out of this game without arousing further more suspicion.

He raised a grin and a wink, looking around and finally fixing his eyes on the front door of the manor. Time to cut the rubbish and get to the end.

"Care to accompany me through the incredibly daunting looking manor, Miss. Tyler?"

"With pleasure my Doctor dearest."

They linked arms, and skipped towards the front door.

* * *

**_Time Catcher _has proven to be an innovation in gaming technology, especially with the introduction of 'the Doctor'. Here's hoping we'll see the character in future Жemnas creations. 10/10.**

**The staggering authenticity and detail in-game makes for a huge impact in the biggest, brightest, and most mind blowing game this year! Could we be seeing a sequel anytime soon? Perhaps, one of the mysterious 'Doctor's' past? 10/10.**

**Жemnas has achieved the impossible – after the recent launch and plummet of the critically ridiculed _'Frogs Go Wild'_, _'Time Catcher'_ proves to be the dramatic U-turn he so desperately needed. 'The Doctor' breathes life into the Жemnas Corporation with his unique and eccentric character, and easy man to fall in love with. 10/10.**

**The charm of 'the Doctor' moves all who play, a truly inspired character. The clarity of communication with the Doctor makes _Time Catcher _easily the best game this year. 10/10.**

**A brilliant game and amazing realism. No longer do you sit on the floor with your controller in hand – you move around _inside _the game with the wonderful character of the Doctor, who makes the game come to life. 10/10.**

Zender Жemnas smiled to himself, throwing the print out of reviews across the desk without care. Of course, what they didn't know was that the Doctor was as real as the noses on his face (All three of them) and bending his brain to synch with more than two games was entirely out of the question.

He swivelled on his chair to look at his bank of monitors, not having looked at them in a while. They were mainly security cameras, recording vandalisms within the complex – but he kept one spare, one for his prize possession. The Doctor.

He could see him now, helpless and drugged in the centre of the room. The pod worked by accessing every single hair on the Doctor's head, every single freckle, every single scratch. The water around him was constantly processing data of his looks, how his body changed and grew as he slept all for the more accuracy.

Жemnas smiled satisfactorily. Turning his head from the Doctor's monitor to the _Time Catcher _observation monitor. This girl was doing quite well. She was well on her way to the last task and she hadn't a scratch on her.

…Wait a minute.

He had seen that girl earlier, in the Doctor's room. He had assumed she was just staff…but the staff weren't allowed on the games during opening times.

Slowly, he reached for the phone, dialling the number without taking his eyes off of the screen.

"Hello, Amrok? We have a security breech."


	11. World's End Part 1

**A/N: **I'm SO busy over the next few days I wrote this extra long as compensation for the fact I'll be disappearing a while. I have _two _projects to do by tomorrow! Though, it kinda IS my fault anyway...I did leave them to the last minute.

Why am I even typing this a/n so long and full of pointless crap?! I should be DOING MY HOMEWORK!!! AGGH!! (Has panic attack)

* * *

Chapter 11 – World's End Part 1

They were actually laughing as they tumbled through the oaken door, collapsing in hysterics at the sheer fact they had made it out in one piece. More zombies. So cliché.

The Doctor let go of her hand, reaching into his bottomless pocket and withdrawing seven folds of worn paper from within, spreading them into a fan and airing his face.

"How much is betting these have something to do with the Final Task?"

"My left leg," Rose said with a grin. "What have we got?"

"Well…**G**, **O**, **M**, **R**, two **E**'s and an **A**." He paused, tapping his chin for a moment. "Y'know, if we had a **T** instead of an **O **we could make '**ME GREAT**'!" he revealed enthusiastically, pointing at himself.

"…And if we had a **G **instead of a **R **we could make '**MEGA EGO**'!" Rose said with just as much enthusiasm as him, folding her arms and grinning.

"Miss Tyler, I'm _insulted." _He stuck his tongue out at her and blew a raspberry, now walking away, nose in air. She laughed, tearing after him and taking his hand as they began to walk forwards once more.

Until they reached a ten foot high wall.

"Hmm, this does pose a problem," the Doctor muttered, straining his neck to see the top of the wall. "I could give you a boost, if you can help me up."

She nodded, rubbing her hands together to warm them up for the climb. He knelt down, thigh ready for her to step on, to which she obliged and used his shoulders as extra leverage. She swung a grab at the top of the wall, just about catching it as she breathlessly hauled herself upwards, 'oof'ing as she pulled herself forwards along her front.

She took a moment to look at the opening she's just climbed onto, seeing for the first time a large circular based room, at least thirty foot high above her head. Around the outside of the room, spiralling around the wall was a large graceful staircase, winding all the way up to the top – which, although impossible to see, was obviously their destination. There was a long red carpet laid all the way up the staircase and icicle-like lights were sitting on the banister, shining brightly at set intervals for as far as she could see.

This was World's End, no doubt about it.

But was climbing the stairs the Final Task? Surely not. Shrugging, she turned back to face the Doctor beneath, beaming widely.

"Your turn!" she called, extending a hand down for him to use. He took it with his right hand, starting to pull himself up.

Suddenly he cried out agony, instantly letting the grip go as immense pain shot through his injured arm. Rose called out, concerned.

"Okay?"

"My arm doesn't like that," he groaned, rubbing it lightly. "Rose, I don't think I'll be able to get up."

"B-b-but…" she stuttered. "You _have _to! I'm not leavin' you behind!"

Before the Doctor could even protest, a sound suddenly stirred from within the silence of the dark doorway behind him.

Which they'd forgotten to close.

Zombies were suddenly pouring through the doorway six at a time, making Rose almost scream in alarm as she reached out again to the Doctor. "Please Doctor!" she cried, "you have to get out! If you don't…" she didn't want to even _think _about failing the game before World's End and shutting down the program. It was her only chance of getting the Doctor out and she wasn't going to lose it.

He glanced around the immediate surroundings as the zombies progressed, slowly but surely. There was a stack of bones in one corner, wood in another and a chest height podium that stretched for three metres across the wall to his right that he sworehadn't been there before. If he could…but no. It was suicide.

"Rose?" he called out to the anxious human, "I've got an idea but I could get hurt…" _…and die a very nasty death. _"So be brave a second, okay?"

She nodded, watching him carefully as he bounded over to the podium and quickly climbed on, wincing at the pain through his arm but just enough to bear. Rose crossed her fingers as he assessed to distance between him and the platform she was standing on, already knowing what he was going to do before he did it. He could come up short and whack his head on the side of the wall, or he could miss the launch altogether and fall into the pit of zombies now crowded around the podium where he stood.

The Doctor felt something cold and thin fingered creep up his leg, so he quickly shook it off and knew he had no time for second thoughts. This was it.

He braced himself, and began to run.

Rose went rigid as his foot left the podium in a launch, the movements almost slow motion for her as he progressed further and further towards the platform, reaching out for sanctuary…a desperate need for success…

He crashed onto the platform, almost doing his ankle in as he landed clumsily on the surface of the concrete, legs collapsing from underneath him.

"Yes!" Rose punched the air in triumph, running over to him and helping the shaky Time Lord to his feet. "Olympics Doctor, sign up your name!"

He gave her grin as she gently brushed him down, before hugging him tight.

"Too close," she muttered, and he nodded agreement.

"C'mon," he said, sticking his tongue out at the zombies gathered below rather childishly, retaking her hand once more and turning towards the direction they had previously been heading with Rose still burying her head in his chest. His jaw dropped.

"Umm…Rose…"

"Hmm?" came her muffled voice from his shirt.

"DUCK!"

He grabbed her quickly around the waist and wrenched her down, throwing himself over her as she heard something big and heavy swing over them; almost successful in taking both their heads clean off.

"What the _hell_ was that?!" Rose gasped as she felt the Doctor launch off of her and drag her to her feet once more.

"Take cover!!!" he yelled over a deep, loud roar of what Rose instantly presumed to be a mighty beast, who had _definitely _not been there a moment ago. They both dived behind a stone statue as Rose yelped, something smashing loudly down where she had been but a second before.

The Doctor held onto her protectively as the beast gave another roar, peeking around the side of the statue they hid behind.

The seventeen red eyed monster, sharp teeth, claws and horns stared back at him, spit dribbling from it's huge mouth as it threw back its pointed head, letting out another roar. It had wings and four paws, only two currently in used as the others wielded a heavy iron baton four times the size of the Doctor. It was with brown scales, fleshy, bloodstained and encased in a heavy white shell. It was 1000 percent mechanical, just a giant ugly robot.

And it was staring straight at him.

He'd never seen a creature like it in his life.

Predictable really, it being a computer game. Final Task. Big boss.

How were they supposed to fight that? They weren't bloody Power Rangers!

Turning back to Rose, he dug his hand into his pocket and withdrew the slips of paper he still had, handing them to her.

"Have these." He saw her confusion. "If I don't make it, it means you can win this alone. I'll make sure you get there."

She opened her mouth to protest, but the Doctor got there first. He pressed his finger to his lips, shushing her instantly.

"Please, don't argue. If we run fast enough we might be able to make it, the both of us. But if this thing picks a fight, you carry on running."

She already knew there was no point trying to argue with him so she nodded, getting ready to sprint towards the top. Okay, so long distance had never been her niche, but this was a completely different scenario. If anything she'd lose a bit of weight.

The Doctor raised a hand, and pointed at the petrol can sat completely randomly at the bottom of the stairs. "Take that, it could be useful."

"Why are there…?" Rose started to ask, staring at the can unblinkingly, but he dismissed her hand with a wave.

"Trust me, take it. We might need to I dunno…drive a car or something."

"Conveniently placed."

"Like a lot of things around here recently," he whispered, extremely low key Rose even struggled to hear him despite the fact his lips were practically against her ear. "The key in the water tank challenge, just in reach. I swear that wasn't there before. The piles of rocks at the start of the stealth test. The cracks in the floor for a warning. Someone's been helping us through this try."

Before Rose could even mention the employee, a low rumbling growl reminded the pair they were not alone.

The Doctor was brought back to reality with a jolt. "Ready?"

She nodded, crouched into position with the Doctor crouched beside her.

"One…two…three…"

The creature roared once more, lifting its iron baton above where the statue they were cowering behind resided.

"RUN!" the Doctor yelled, and they were off faster than speeding bullets. The Doctor deliberately pushed Rose infront of him as they bounded up the stairs three at a time, petrol can in Rose's grip. Rose didn't even dare to turn her head for fear of what she would see, that thing had wings and they wouldn't lose it no matter how high they got.

The Doctor saw the creature growl in aggravation as the statue turned to dust beneath his club. It turned once more, eyes following the pair, scowling. The smell of petrol came wafting up to Rose's nostrils, and she looked down at the floor to see the can had a leak.

"Doctor!" she called as they ran further and further. "The can's leaking!"

"Leave it!" he shouted back. "It's meant to be!" She didn't even bother asking what the hell he meant as they carried on, the creature still watching them. They must have run about three spirals before it lifted its baton once more.

"Rose!" the Doctor flew out his hands to grab her, just about stopping her in time before the baton came crashing down between them, narrowing missing the Doctor. Rose watched, panic stricken as the very ground they were standing on started to crack and crumble beneath their feet.

The Doctor didn't waste a nanosecond of time. He firmly pushed her forwards up the stairs off of the cracking floor they were standing on, prioritising her safety as he had promised before himself.

But it was too late for him.

The ground collapsed beneath his feet as Rose screamed his name out loud, watching him as he disappeared in a swirl of rock dust to the surface ten foot below. She quickly got down onto her front, head peering over the side of the crack in the floor, trying in vain to see the Doctor anywhere, and if he was alright.

As the dust began to settle she did indeed see a pinstripe wearing figure lying awkwardly below, apparently unmoving, but she could see no blood.

"Doctor!" she called down, extending a hand down as if she could actually reach him and pull him up. "Doctor!"

Ten seconds later, she was still yelling.

The creature, apparently bored with the unmoving Doctor by now, turned its gaze to the screaming Rose. It growled and Rose instantly looked up, meeting the creature's seventeen red eyes as fear escalated within her. She pulled herself slowly to her feet, not losing eye contact with it every inch of her movement.

She could only watch as the creature bared its teeth, and raised the baton once more above its head.


	12. World's End Part 2

**A/N: **Here we go! Working on the other one too, there is such a thing as too much domestics and I'm trying to be a little less harsh on the Doctor in the lead up to the wedding, so it's fluff city. I'm going insane. At the moment, Guitar Hero takes priority :D

Yes, it's very Kingdom Hearts. I freaking LOVE those games! (Dances) Oh, and the Doctor knew instantly about Rose after they reset the game because he's _clever _:D And I also didn't want to spend another chapter causing problems by him asking questions so like it or lump it :P But preferably _like_, because I'm enjoying writing this and y'all make it worthwhile :D

* * *

Chapter 12 – World's End Part 2

"Oi!"

Rose was startled at the voice as a rock suddenly flew at the creature from somewhere below were she was standing, hitting it squarely between the eyes.

It growled once more, turning its huge head away from her to below.

"Doctor?" Rose called hesitantly.

"Rose, run!" came the Doctor's voice once more, and after a few stunned seconds, she obeyed and began to run.

The creature turned its head back towards her.

"Hey!" the Doctor yelled again, trying to get its attention back. It gave a roar and did so, its baton swinging around in a spin through the staircase where the Doctor was standing. He began to run away, tearing it up the staircase once more as the baton followed him behind. It was rapidly gaining.

Rose was directly opposite the sight of it now, looking down from the railings to see the Doctor in peril. She was terrified as the baton finally reached the Doctor as he disappeared beneath it.

Hand over mouth, she watched as the creature stopped its smashing streak and gave a grunt of satisfaction.

The Doctor however, was pushing himself up from the floor once more, catching the creature's stare of surprise and giving a grin.

"Missed!" he yelled and gave a small dance.

The creature roared aggravation; baton now clutched in one hand as it swung its other hand out and plucked the Doctor straight up off of the floor. Good. He was hoping it would do that. If he could just reached the head…

Rose was almost at the top now, the end in sight. There was a single oaken door set just infront of her, wood polished and shiny, the sight stunning. This was it.

She carried on running.

* * *

The Doctor jeered at the creature, implying its lack of brains as he pulled himself out of its loose grip to its arm. It roared once more, lifting the baton again to strike down onto the pest crawling around on its arm. The Doctor ignored the vertigo as he pushed himself to his feet and began to run up its arm, diving for the horns on its pointed head as the baton came striking down. 

The creature howled in agony, the heavy baton falling with a loud 'clang' to the floor. The Doctor took the opportunity and pulled himself onto its head one handed, his injured arm already under too much strain.

He ran his right hand over the creature's head, trying to find a slit of a lid somewhere. If this was robotic, there was likely going to be a central mainframe in its head. All he had to do was deactivate it, and then everything would be tickety-boo.

Just as he found a slit, the Doctor dug in his nails and wrenched the lid open wide – but the creature was trying to get him off once more. He felt a sensation of lifting upwards with his right hand deep in the wires inside its head, his left still clinging on for dear life on one of its horns.

They were flying up, he realised, the creature waving its arms about manically, trying desperately to strike him.

"Doctor!!!" came the call in his ear, and he instantly knew they were in danger of stopping Rose from reaching the end of the game.

Rose was staring at him, jaw dropped as if unable to believe what she was seeing. The Doctor…was…sitting on the creature's head? _Now _she'd seen everything.

"Just a…bit…more…" the Doctor gasped, his upper half fully in the cavity of the creature's head now. Deactivating a giant robot in the dark with one hand and the chance of being thrown off rather erratically was _not _something he'd been taught to do in the Academy.

_This is the moderator. Security breech alert. User: Zender Жemnas._

"Oh bloody hell, that's all we need!" Rose yelled to the skies, stamping her feet angrily over the roar of the creature, still thrashing around. "A madman with a keyboard!"

_Fiend duplication mode enabled. Boundary restrictions deactivated. Mode maximised. _

The Doctor tweaked the last wire, finally breathing a sigh of relief as the creature went rigid beneath him in mid-swing.

_Cobra activated. Spawn enabled. XG97 fiends enabled._

"Doctor…" Rose whispered hoarsely as he made his way carefully along the rigid arm, conveniently extended and pointing towards where Rose was standing. He dropped down next to her, turning his gaze to where she was also looking.

And gulped.

He turned his head, looking also to where their destination was.

He went dead inside.

Zombies, everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Cluster and clusters of zombies appearing from nowhere just limping slowly towards them, arms extended with a mass of groans from rotted lips.

The Doctor ran over to the side of the staircase, leaning over the railing to look at the spiralling stairs they had ascended. Zombies for every inch, pushing to get past each other. Even the floor so far below was filled with bobbing zombie heads, trying to reach their targets – the Doctor and Rose.

They were absolutely and utterly surrounded.

"Now's about time for that secret save-the-day plan of yours…" Rose murmured, backing into him as the zombies got unnervingly closer, barely ten metres from where they stood.

The Doctor rested his hands on her shoulders, turning his gaze back to the advancing zombies.

"Oh, I'll think of one."

* * *

_Fiend duplication mode enabled. Boundary restrictions deactivated. Mode maximised._

Жemnas grinnedto himself, scratching his bald green head as he continued to type in commands into the computer. If the girl wasn't going to willingly come out the game, he was going to flush her out himself.

_Cobra activated. Spawn enabled. XG97 fiends enabled._

Oh, this was satisfying. He watched as the girl suddenly became alert to the code's effects, the Doctor coming back to her as he always did. He'd never done this before…there was something different about her. The Doctor was much more protective of her than he was to any other players.

Жemnas watched them for a few moments more, observing as the Doctor's hands rested on her shoulders. He treated her like…a_lmost _like…the true Doctor's companion.

The penny dropped.

This human girl _was_ the Doctor's companion.

He could use her for a sequel no doubt. _Gods And Goddesses, _he would call it.

If Жemnas were a cartoon character at that precise moment in time, he would have had money signs in his eyes.

_Error #324! Alert!_

Жemnas' eyes snapped back to the computer sitting infront of him as Amrok also looked up from his desk to see the problem.

_Error #324! Alert! Defect simulation mode deactivated!_

Жemnas stared unblinkingly at the monitor for a moment as the error registered in his head.

"NO!" he suddenly yelled, jabbing manically at the keyboard to try and reverse the process. It meant wounds were no longer simulated; they had become true in real life. Жemnas' eyes whipped back to the Doctor's monitor and saw the water holding him had clouds of red seeping out from his arm wound. "The Doctor _cannot _get hurt! Deactivate the zombies immediately!"

Amrok was tapping ineffectually at the controls – the computer freezing him out with the error. He slowly turned him head towards Жemnas, shaking his head by way of apology.

Жemnas' eyes burned with pure undivided fury. "Then what the hell am I paying you for?!"

"I'm sorry sir, we can't do a thing."

Жemnas cried out with rage, giving the keyboard one last smash with his fists before falling dejectedly back in his chair, gaze turning once more back to the zombie ridden game.

He was going to watch his greatest creation being turned to dust.


	13. World's End Part 3

**A/N: **Poor David. I heard about his mum just yesterday, hope he's okay.

* * *

Chapter 13 – World's End Part 3

The Doctor's eyes were flashing back and forth between the zombie masses either side of them, pushing Rose behind him against the banister and protecting her with his own body.

She wrapped her arms around his abdomen, seeking reassurance that it was the Doctor, and if there was a way out he'd be the one to think of it.

The stench of both rotten flesh and petrol fumes was horrendous now, the zombies barely five metres from them. If they were any slower stationary objects would overtake them – not that the Doctor was complaining.

He saw the abandoned petrol can in the centre of the stairs where they were, on its side now so only the smallest amount of petrol leaked out the hole in the bottom of the can. Looking down at the stairs now he could see the wet trail that Rose had left in her wake from carrying the leaking can. The trail must've gone all the way down the stairs…

His eyes widened.

He instantly leapt forward from Rose, taking her by surprise as he dived for the petrol can. He grabbed it and unscrewed the top, careful not to spill a drop on himself as he poured it over the floor in the path of the zombies coming up behind them. Once satisfied, he carelessly threw the can over the banister and launched out a hand to one of the lights still standing on the banister – a glass sculpture of a fire on the end of a long stick as she'd seen before at the bottom, some form of light encased within shining through.

The Doctor took it, raising it above his head and bringing it hard down onto the stone banister. The glass instantly smashed into several thousand pieces to reveal a large flame burning brightly inside.

"Rose, stand back!" the Doctor warned, lowering the flame on the end of the stick to the floor, resting to the petrol.

The petrol ignited.

Rose had to admit – the Doctor was a complete and utter genius at times. She watched as the flames danced about infront of her eyes, following the trail of petrol she herself had created down the stairs. It was like watching a marble run down a spiral track, the floor lighting up and issuing with it more groans from the toasted zombies' lips. Her eyes followed it down the stairs, its pace like a speeding bullet.

Thousands of zombies were burning infront of her eyes, the fire claiming each of them of their existence…if it could even be called that. The fire had spread at the bottom now too, the dopey zombies walking straight into the flames.

Everything was ablaze.

"Rose," the Doctor was saying, something being thrust into her hand. The fire stick. She looked at the Doctor next to her, confused as he acquired a new one for himself. He nodded to the mass of zombies between them and the oaken door, and she found herself concurring.

"Three…" the Doctor muttered, "two…one…" He was off. "CHARGE!"

Left, right, left, right Rose swung her fire stick, screaming kamikaze at the zombies as she ran forward, inches behind the Doctor. If she wasn't climbing the stairs she'd have closed her eyes, the sight of more burning zombies suddenly unbearable after what had happened before.

She could feel zombie blood all over her as each strike took off a head or five, her free hand desperately trying to wipe the congealed blood off of her. Something grabbed her collar, making her emit a tiny scream of surprise as she suddenly found herself lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling.

"Get off!" she screamed, thrashing around with her fire stick still on hand – tens of rotted zombie hands suddenly starting to rest against her clothes, zombies face staring down at her, mouths open and dripping blood. "DOCTOR!" she hollered, "HELP ME!"

The zombie nearest to her neck seemed to be having all the fun, knowing it had the best viewpoint. She watched its disgusting one eyed face as it got closer and closer towards her…

Then its head went missing.

Rose screamed once more at blood cascaded onto her, closing her eyes and raising her arms up to her face as more squishing sounds ensued.

A firm hand grabbed her around the stomach as she suddenly found herself wrenched upwards off of the floor, her eyes opening to find she was slung around the Doctor's shoulders, one warm hand holding around her legs with the other extended towards a single remaining zombie, fire stick in hand.

"Stay back," she heard the Doctor growl, silently cheering him on as the zombie dared to start limping towards him, shuffling through the dead bodies of its fellows, arms extended. "STAY BACK!" the Doctor demanded, louder this time. He jabbed the fire stick in the zombie's direction threateningly. "I don't want to do this, I _really _don't want to do this, but if you take one more step…"

It took another step.

The Doctor raised his arm, and the fire stick went flying towards the zombie's head. It hit was such force the already weak bone of the skull cracked beneath it as the stick drilled in and straight through the other side, splitting its head in two.

It hit the floor.

After a small pause, the Doctor lowered Rose to the ground also, accepting her prolonged hug of pure relief as he looked around at the mess of charred zombies in the room. He had done this.

He looked downwards at Rose, to find she was looking up at him, shaking her head.

"They didn't ever exist Doctor," she reassured him, scarily able to read his thoughts from the grave expression on his face. "They were never real. You killed some pixels, nothing more."

He nodded, letting go of her and taking her hand instead to lead her through the oaken door.

A note was already waiting for them on a silver platter sitting on a podium. Beyond the podium was a flat surface, with eight box outlines carved into the stone.

Rose was the one to take the note this time, acknowledging the '**V**'.

**The journey is not over yet,**

**There is one more task to complete.**

**All letters form into words,**

**But in which way do they meet?**

"Anagrams," the Doctor said instantly, "predictable. What've we got then?"

"**R**, **G**, **O**, **M**, two **E**'s, a **V** and an **A**." She offered the slips of paper to him.

He slowly clicked his tongue, taking the proffered paper and setting them down onto the surface, spreading them out and staring hard.

"**MORE**…**GAVE**? **GEM**…" he muttered to himself, his fast Time Lord brain accessing every single option presented in these eight letters. "**GRAVE**…**ROAM**…"

Rose had been looking too. "Is **ROVE **a word?"

"In a minority..."

"**MEGA ROVE**!" she grinned, but his eyes were wide and shining as he realised what the letters rearranged to…

He lifted a steady hand, pushing the slips of paper into the outlines in a set order. As each letter was moved Rose's eyes also widened, the answer so simple yet so inconspicuous.

**GAME OVER**.


	14. World's End Part 4

**A/N: **Anyone hear? Doctor Who video game! Summary: 'Can you seduce and have sex with the Doctor?' ...Okay, so that isn't it. Quite a good idea, though...

Oh, and the 'Ж' in Жemnas is one of those symbol things in Word - I needed a name for a gaming corporation (Before all this 'trapped in a video game' stuff started) and I saw that cool symbol and just HAD to use it. Didn't realise it was gonna turn into a name until chapter 4...

Thankies for all reviews so far, Ramble will be up in just a second :D

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Chapter 14 – World's End Part 4

The Doctor looked towards Rose – before she realised with utter horror that fragments of him seemed to be disappearing in bright white light, as though he were but a jigsaw and pieces of him were being knocked out.

Oh God, what had been the words?

She was utterly powerless without them. She _had _to remember. She hadn't come all this way just for _nothing…_

She was useless. Utterly useless. She'd only had to remember a few dumb words and speak them at the right time, and she'd _forgotten _them.

"_Rose…" _his voice, his beautiful voice suddenly with a computerised edge to it, a binary hand reaching out towards her as he started to fade. _"I believe in you…"_

She gritted her teeth, seeking solace from him as she strained her brain to full mental capacity to find those little trigger words that meant life or death.

She wouldn't let her Doctor down.

"Prime configuration setting order number zero, zero, one!!!" Rose screamed as it arrived into her head by some miracle of creation, the process of game over instantly reversing as the white light got instantaneously sucked back in, a high pitched buzzing drilling into both their ears and through their brains, the Doctor collapsing to his knees, teeth gritted in agony with his hands desperately holding onto the sides of his skull.

"This is shutdown Doctor!" Rose yelled in delight, looking around at the scenery now losing colour and focus around them both. "This is it!!!"

He knelt on the floor, memories flying at him with incredible speed as the fog started to clear from his mind. Rose glanced sideward at him, watching him as his image shifted slightly into one she recognised – the ghostly white shape of an oxygen mask on his face, the tubes and wires that kept him alive real, but not real.

Rose instantly grabbed a sharp looking splintered piece of wood from the side as the scenery continued to flicker and fade around her, holding it out infront of her chest with the sharp end pointing straight at her heart.

She glanced sideward at the Doctor, watching his eyes widen in fear and shock at what she was actually doing.

"Don't Rose!" he yelled, hand extended out towards her, struggling to even stay conscious as he suddenly felt disoriented and extremely drugged.

"I'll be there when you wake up, Doctor," she whispered, before looking back at the wood she held infront of her. Teeth gritted, she gripped even tighter on the sharpened wood – and plunged it straight through her heart.

"NO!" he screamed as she hit the floor, instantly dead. His arm was throbbing, his head was pulsating, and suddenly for no reason at all, he was underwater.

He clenched his eyes shut tight, the feeling of being underwater suddenly absolute. He could feel warm water all around him and something was on his face. He tried to lift a hand to take it off, but his limbs refused to cooperate as suddenly he realised he was infact asleep.

"Doctor!" yelled a distant voice – Rose's. She was alive. "We're gonna get you out of there, just hold on!"

But seconds later there was a faint hiss of hydraulics as he felt a rush of air to his face. A rush of air? The water was leaving. Obviously somewhere a door had been opened, because he could feel himself sinking as the water left, falling sideways and hitting a wall of some kind.

Someone was pulling him across the floor of the pod, taking off all the implements he could feel on him as he passed through the door into the open, and with it came flooding back all of his memories like the crashing of a waterfall.

"The police'll be here in a minute," someone was saying, a voice he didn't recognise.

"Doctor!" came Rose's voice again from right next to him, shaking him around a little. "Please, don't do this to me…"

"No…no…I'm fine…" the Doctor insisted, managing to open his eyes and push himself to sit up. Instantly he felt arms engulf him in a tight, loving hug, something wet and soft pressing against his cheek as he realised Rose was kissing him – and he went red.

"Doctor you're back!" He turned his head to look at her beaming face, her cheeks glistening with tears.

"Hey, hey, don't cry," he said gently, hugging her back as someone deposited a fluffy white towel over his shoulders to compensate for the ten tons of water he now feel inside more than just his shoes.

"I can't…can't be-believe it…" she whimpered, pressing into his sodden jacket just to make sure he was really there, really awake.

"How long was I gone?"

"Over thr-three months…"

The Doctor only shifted his arm from his hug to draw it out of his right jacket and shirtsleeves for whoever was to the right of him to tend to his wound. His ghost scratch stung badly, perhaps even worse than in-game.

"It's okay, it's okay," he found himself saying over and over, Rose simultaneously drying him and weeping.

After what seemed like hours though could only be a few minutes, Rose managed to finally swallow her tears. He looked at her once more, giving her a supportive grin.

"Done?"

She nodded slowly – before bursting into laughter. She hugged him once more as his right arm was let free and he shrugged on his shirt and jacket, both water drenched.

"Thanks," he said, turning to the right to see his aider for the first time. An employee? "Errr…what's your name?"

"Porther, sir, Jhutsu Porther," he said eagerly, extending his hand to shake the Doctor's. "It's an absolute honour to be acquainted with you."

"Thank you. But right now we need to get out of here. Jhutsu, can we get out of the complex unnoticed?"

"Why? The police'll be here in a minute."

"Rose just completely trashed the game and now I've disappeared from it, they're not exactly gonna just stand around having a cup of tea are they?" he pointed out. "We have to move."

Rose had managed to clear up her tears now, getting to her feet above the still drenched Doctor, totally wet through. She offered a hand up to him but instead ended up trying to carry his entire weight as he struggled to get onto his feet.

"Kinda chilly," the Doctor muttered. Rose looked up at his face, worried as he noticeably started slightly shaking, the cold water from his hair still dribbling down his neck despite her best efforts to dry it.

"You gotta get back to the TARDIS and get outta those clothes," she pointed out. He nodded, letting Jhutsu take his other arm and put it around his shoulder, the both of them now helping him to walk. He'd been in deep sleep too long; his legs were too weak to support him. Together they helped him walk towards the space age like metal door to exit the room he'd been forced to call his home for so long.

They were in the corridor now, walking hastily towards the Жemnas complex exit. The sooner they got to the TARDIS, the better.

"Halt!"

Rose immediately whirled around to their confronters, readjusting the Doctor's weight on her shoulders and forcing him to lean on her as he tried to pull away.

"That is property of Жemnas Games Incorporated! Hand it over right now!"

"Hello? 'It' has a name!" the Doctor said indignantly, pulling totally away from Rose and Jhutsu onto two feet before she could stop him. "Or did you forget I'm a sentient being that just has as much right to live as you do?"

"Doctor!" Zender Жemnas suddenly stepped forward into the light, gesturing for security to lower their guns. "Your game has reached selling peak, why would you leave when you are so famous?"

"Let's just say it was beginning to feel like a day job."

Жemnas laughed, hysterically. "Oh gosh Doctor, you and your delightful sense of humour! It's what makes you the perfect character."

"I resign."

"I'm afraid you can't resign from _this _job." The guards standing either side of Жemnas suddenly raised their guns to point at the Doctor, all barrels loading with an obvious 'click'.

"Ah ha, ha, ha, ha!" the Doctor raised a hand, stepping forward a little towards Жemnas with his finger waggling from side to side. "You wouldn't shoot me. You could never shoot me."

"That's a strange thing to say in the face of five guns, Doctor."

"But you see…if you think about it, you can't actually kill me because I'm the main component in your game system. If you shoot me you lose millions…no, _billions _of pounds because there'll be no _Time Catcher."_

Жemnas suddenly paused for a moment, nodding acknowledgment at the Doctor's words.

"True," he said finally. "But you know, that premises doesn't stop me from shooting…" –he clicked his fingers – "your companion."

Suddenly, all the guns were pointing at Rose, who tried to launch out a hand to grab the Doctor's arm but ended up being restrained in the arms of one of guards. She fought against the grip but to no avail as she was dragged roughly back towards Жemnas.

"Run Doctor!" she yelled, "get out of here!"

But before he could even open his mouth to yell the one syllable: 'no', there was a sudden, drilling sharp pain to the right side of his head. He had just enough time to realise Jhutsu had actually _hit _him, before he collapsed sideways onto the floor – quite unconscious.


	15. The Tyler Gaming Complex

**A/N: **I've just realised this is the last chapter :P

* * *

Chapter 15 – The Tyler Gaming Complex

"What the _hell_ did you do that for?" Rose gasped at Jhutsu, struggling against the guard's hold as the Doctor hit the ground, eyes closed. "Doctor!"

"Good work employee!" Жemnas applauded Jhutsu as he lowered to the Doctor, wrenching his hands behind his back and pressing his knee in-between the unconscious Doctor's shoulder blades. The gun he'd stolen from the by standing guard and hit the Doctor over the head with in a space of less than two seconds was suddenly pressed to the back of the Time Lord's skull, finger poised over the trigger.

"Let her go or I'll shoot!" Jhutsu demanded, staring straight at Жemnas with extremely serious eyes. Жemnas assessed him for a moment.

"You wouldn't."

"I don't give a toss about your bloody game. He can die for all I care; it's not my problem. I just want Rose safe."

"Jhutsu, please don't do this!" Rose was staring down at the Doctor, absolutely terrified.

"It's okay Rose, I'll save you!"

Жemnas was staring between the both of them, a plan forming one last time in his mind.

"I propose a trade," Жemnas started, rubbing his hands together in an 'evil mastermind' way. "You give me the Doctor, I'll give you the girl."

"No! Jhutsu!" Rose begged the alien infront of her. "Please, I came here to save the Doctor, not myself!"

Jhutsu paused for a moment, looking down at the Doctor unconscious beneath him before looking up at Жemnas, mouth opening to answer his proposition.

"Police! Stop!"

Rose breathed a sudden sigh of relief, feeling the grip on her shoulders loosen dramatically. She bounded instantly forward and dropped down next to the Doctor, Jhutsu busy checking his vitals.

"I'm sorry Rose," Jhutsu muttered, satisfied with the Doctor's health. "I had to stall him somehow."

"Thank you," she replied with a smile, hugging the alien briefly before turning to see the man whom had put them through so much turmoil finally get his just desserts.

"Zender Жemnas you are under arrest on charges of abduction, physical assault and mental assault of the 'computer game character' known as the Doctor." A policeman was cuffing Жemnas' hands behind his back. "You do not have to say anything but anything you dosay will be taken note of and used against you in the court of law."

"And I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!" Жemnas spat as Rose got onto her feet, striding towards Жemnas with the evilest glint in her eyes he'd ever seen in his entire life. He watched warily as she raised a hand high in the air above him, the word fear suddenly having a whole new meaning as her palm came swiping down like a cannonball, making vicious contact with his cheek at the sound of a very loud _crack!_

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" Жemnas screamed incongruity, unable to bring up a hand to clasp at his burning cheek as they were both cuffed behind him. Rose smiled, folding her arms in satisfaction as she turned away from him to see the Doctor and Jhutsu.

She rushed back over, noting the Doctor was now starting tremble slightly in unconsciousness as shivered breaths came through gritted teeth. If they weren't careful hypothermia would set in soon. She rubbed the towel even more over him, desperately trying to warm him up.

"This isn't the end, human!" Жemnas screeched, "you'll be forced to return!"

"When pigs fly!" Rose retorted, watching him go as the police guards dragged him backwards out the door, kicking and screaming.

"They already do on Azurox Two," came the Doctor's voice from below, almost startling her. She hugged him tight in the moment; happy at the conclusion this adventure seemed to have come to.

The Doctor pulled himself up to sitting position, holding a hand to the side of his head where he'd been struck unconscious and glancing around the room where polices guards were clustered. He frowned.

"Hey…" he started sulkily, still looking around the room. "I missed everything!"

"Bad guy in jail, turns out Jhutsu was trickin' everybody all along," Rose filled in quickly for him.

"Speaking of which, I'd better go sort out the paperwork," Jhutsu realised, getting onto his feet. "_Time Catcher_'s redundant now, but thousands of people have booked it in advance…" He sketched Rose a half wave. "See you later, and Doctor, take it easy awhile won't you?" and with that, he sped out the door up to Жemnas' office.

They both paused for a moment, Rose looking down at him once more. "TARDIS?" she proposed.

"TARDIS," he confirmed, giving her a happy grin. "I feel like an iceberg."

* * *

"I'm sorry ma'am, we've had to cancel your booking to play _Time Catcher _in three months time." Pause, as Jhutsu listened to the reply, before speaking once more, "because of unforeseen technical difficulty." Pause. "Doesn't work for you? Well, umm, basically, Mr. Жemnas was using a real person as the Doctor and we only just found out." Pause. "Yep." Pause. "Yes, he's fine. He's gone home." Pause. "You want to meet him? I don't really think we're at liberty to do that ma'am…" Pause. "He's been imprisoned for three months, he needs time to recover." Pause. "I'll ask you not to use that kind of language, ma'am. Goodbye." 

Jhutsu set the phone down on the holder with a sigh, reaching across the table for his beverage. Before it even had a chance to touch his lips the intercom buzzed, almost making Jhutsu fall off of his chair in surprise.

He pressed the button, speaking into the electrical device.

"Amrok?"

"_Two people in reception requesting to see a 'Jhutsu Porther', the Doctor and a girl called Rose."_

"Send them up."

Around ten seconds later the door clicked open to reveal the human woman and Time Lord male, looking at him with grins. He got up onto both feet extending a hand to shake.

"Oh don't be so formal," the Doctor said, waving an uncaring hand and dropping freely into an available chair infront of previously Жemnas' desk. Jhutsu looked him over for a moment as the Doctor helped himself to Jhutsu's drink, determining he didn't seem to be affected by the experience at all. He looked healthy and happy despite the fact he'd been sleeping for three months. His injured arm was in a sling, no doubt Rose's work.

"How's the arm?" Jhutsu ventured, resuming his own seat once more.

"It's nothing," the Doctor answered casually, but Jhutsu caught the firm background shake of Rose's head as she also took a seat. "Nurse Tyler here makes _waaaaaaay _too much fuss."

Rose smiled gently, ignoring him. "We came to see how you were doing."

Jhutsu shook his head, regretfully. "Not good, I'm afraid. Everyone's moaning that they 'paid good money to see you' and asking if they could meet you anyway…"

"I know, I'm awesome," he said, without making any attempt to disguise his ego.

"Plus there are no offerings for manager now Жemnas has stepped down…" He seemed not to notice the two staring at him after his words. "I mean, no one's willing to do it because they think the whole project's cursed…whoever takes it over is gonna have to redo _everything…"_

The Doctor coughed ever so lightly, and Jhutsu finally registered him.

"What?"

They both just stared at him. He blinked.

"…Wha…?" Then he realised. "Muh…muh…me?"

The Doctor nodded, expression set.

Jhutsu could hardly get the words out, "but…but…but…I don't even have a name for the complex."

"Make one up!" the Doctor said obviously.

Jhutsu half smiled, looking around the room for influence before his eyes finally set on Rose, still sitting back in the chair.

"The Tyler Gaming Complex," he finally said, giving Rose a huge grin.

"Not _too _cliché then," the Doctor said, taking one last gulp of Jhutsu's drink as he grinned broadly, getting onto his feet. "We'd better make tracks Rose, TARDIS needs refuelling – she's been running full pelt for three months solid."

"Gotcha," she said, bounding onto her feet beside him and looking back to Jhutsu. "Take care, now."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," the Doctor said, turning back to the door to head back to the TARDIS. Jhutsu was bewildered – was there actually _anything_ the Doctor wouldn'tdo?

As the two friends disappeared out the door Jhutsu smiled to himself, turning back to the papers stacked on his desk.

The Tyler Gaming Complex.

He was going to start from scratch.

**The End**

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**A/N: **I know what you're going to say, because it comes at the end of every story anyone writes, and basically, I'm unsure. Should I create a new one or carry it on from this chapter if I choose to actually continue? Oh well. Review and tell me what you thought, I thought this story would be a bit of a cast out but it turns out you liked it :D Thank you for all reviews it's almost the most chapter-to-review comparison I've had, and that makes me happpppppppppy!!! 

Ty for reading!

RDA


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